The House, which is narrowly controlled by the opposition, unlike the Senate, which is in the hands of Democrats, has been practically paralyzed since October 3, when the chamber’s speaker, Kevin McCarthy, was ousted.
Jim Jordan, a Republican baron who is seen as a staunch loyalist of Donald Trump, was named his party’s nominee for the House of Representatives on Friday, but the end of the crisis causing the vacancy in this strategic post appears to be a long way off. .
The House, narrowly controlled by the opposition, as opposed to the Democratic-held Senate, has been virtually paralyzed since Oct. 3, when chamber Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted amid fratricidal infighting in the party a year before the 2024 presidential election.
The US cannot thus advance any measure in parliament, to give new aid to Israel for example, or to continue support to Ukraine, an issue that has been on the table for weeks.
This was the second vote of the Republican caucus, which is divided between so-called moderates and those moving in Donald Trump’s orbit.
In the first, which took place on Wednesday, the winner was Steve Scalise (Louisiana), chairman of the KO, against Jim Jordan (Ohio), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, supported by Mr. Trump.
But last Thursday, Mr. Scalise announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy, after finding that he did not have a sufficient number of votes to elect a new “speaker”.
Mr. Jordan prevailed yesterday in a secret ballot over Austin Scott (Georgia), another member of the party’s conservative wing. But he may find himself in a similar position to Mr. Scalise, given the balance of power in the US lower house (221 votes for Republicans, 212 for Democrats), according to commentators.
He received 124 votes, compared to 81 of his opponent, according to American media.
However, on a second ballot, to find out how many Republicans would vote for him in the event of a plenary meeting, he received only 152 votes to 55, in other words he is 65 votes short.
Barring a dramatic contingency, the issue will not be resolved until next week at the earliest. Yesterday Friday afternoon, after all, many parliamentarians had already left Washington for the weekend.
Although they express similar, highly conservative, positions on issues such as abortion rights, the death penalty, gun ownership, Jim Jordan and Austin Scott diverged in their vote to ratify the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, won by Democrat Joe Biden, which Mr. Trump disputed.
The first was against, the second in favor.
Source :Skai
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