Multiple members emerged from the House GOP’s speaker forum on Tuesday saying they don’t see either candidate being any closer to having the votes needed to secure the gavel on the floor.
Driving the news: “No one is close to 217,” Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) said after Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La) and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) pitched members on why they believe they should be the next speaker.
And my answer back would be: “Jeffries is a perfectly good, perfectly viable option. I invite any Republican who is sick of the constant posturing between worse and worst candidates for Speakership to vote for him.” And if I were Jeffries, I’d say “We’ll keep the committees the way they are, we’ll respect the Majority’s right to set policy, but the Hastert rule is dead with me and if we can’t get a passing vote on a Republican idea, I will bring Democrat ideas up. Take it or leave it, but the clock is ticking.”