Today's recap
The House of Representatives remains in limbo and without a speaker, despite far-right Ohio representative Jim Jordan trying his best to rally holdout colleagues.
With the House in its weeks-long gridlock, there are increasing calls from Democrats and Republicans to expand the powers of the chamber’s acting speaker, North Carolina’s Patrick McHenry, so that the chamber can carry on with business.
The chaos in the House of Representatives comes at a precarious moment on the world stage amid the ongoing conflicts between Israel and Hamas, as well as Ukraine and Russia.
Former Donald Trump lawyer Sidney Powell is taking a plea agreement in Georgia’s Fulton county and will plead guilty in the Georgia election subversion case.
The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, said that the justice department was monitoring an increase in reported threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities.
Joe Biden is set to deliver a primetime address tonight at 8pm ET in which he will discuss the US response to the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war.
Updated
Jim Jordan’s bid for speaker appears to still be an uphill climb.
Per reporters at Capitol Hill, he did not take any questions from the press after meeting with holdout Republicans.
Mike Lawler, the New York Republican who voted against Jordan previously, issued a statement endorsing Patrick McHenry as an interim speaker. “In the absence of an immediate resolution, we must empower Speaker Pro-Tempore Patrick McHenry to serve as Speaker temporarily to allow us to get back to work,” he said.
Updated
Meanwhile, some Senate news: Laphonza Butler, who was appointed just over two weeks ago to fill the seat left vacant by California senator Dianne Feinstein’s death, said she would not run for a full term.
The New York Times reports that Butler said that the Senate was “not the greatest use of my voice”.
Her appointment to serve the remainder of Feinstein’s term by California governor Gavin Newsom drew criticism, especially from supporters of congresswoman Barbara Lee, a Black Bay Area representative who had already been campaigning for the upcoming Senate term before Feinstein died last month.
Newsom had promised that given the opportunity, he would appoint a Black woman to the seat. But he also implied he would not be appointing anyone who was already running for the senate, and said that he would instead choose an “interim” candidate. When announcing Butler’s appointment, his office made clear that she was free to run for a full term if she chose to.
Still, his choice drew the ire of many Lee supporters, including the Congressional Black Caucus. “Barbara Lee, and Black women, are not mere caretakers, but the voting and organizing center of the national Democratic party,” Aimee Allison, whose organization She the People promotes women of color in politics, said at the time.
Butler became the only Black woman in the senate and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to represent California in the chamber.
In a statement, Butler said: “California voters want leaders who think about them and the issues they care most about. I now have 383 days to serve the people of California with every ounce of energy and effort that I have.”
Butler had never held elected office. Prior to joining the senate, she led Emily’s List, a national political organization dedicated to electing Democratic women who support reproductive rights. She also served as a strategist and adviser to Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign and was a former labor leader of SEIU California, the state’s largest union, representing more than 700,000 workers.
Updated
Meanwhile, Democrats are continuing to push the message that Republicans’ inability to work together to elect a speaker is a sign of the party’s incompetence ahead of a big election year.
DNC spokesperson Sarafina Chitika wrote:
Today, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution affirming their support for Israel, President Biden returned from Israel and is preparing to address the nation, and House Democrats stand ready to get back to work. All of the adults are in the room working, except for House Republicans who are – literally – cursing at one another and fighting among themselves. It’s time for the House GOP to grow up, pull themselves together, and join Democrats in working for the American people.
In an interview with CNN, hard-right congressman Matt Gaetz, who started the push to oust former speaker Kevin McCarthy, said “This is how its supposed to be, and it’s not clearn and its not orderly… I don’t seem to mind it too much.”
CNN’s Manu Raju asked Gaetz what he got out of removing McCarthy, he said, “We’re shaking up Washington, DC.”
Matt Gaetz tries to explain what he got for leading the charge pushing out Kevin McCarthy
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 19, 2023
"We're shaking up Washington, DC." pic.twitter.com/k7lgshkAsP
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates has urged Republicans to “get their act together” amid their “self-inflected, extreme chaos.”
In a memo released on Thursday, Bates said:
“The House GOP’s backbiting and competition to out-extreme each other is also surfacing hardline positions that the American people have solidly rejected again and again. Including dangerous conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, radical abortion bans, and cuts to Medicare and Social Security…
As president Biden acts to make America more secure, grow our economy for the middle class, and protect our freedoms, House Republicans are falling over one another to find out who can be the most erratic and out of step with the priorites of working families.
They need to get their act together and join this president at the adults table.”
In a new interview with CNN, Democrat representative Nancy Pelosi said that “you have to make him speaker,” referring to interm House speaker Patrick McHenry.
Speaking to CNN’s Dana Bash, Pelosi said:
“From a standpoint of the speakership, you really cannot give Mr. McHenry power. Someone suggested, well, just let him do this and let him do that. No, you have to make him speaker, and then he has the awesome power of the speakership.
Question is, for how long, the longevity of it? My hearing is that it will be to the end of this session, so until the end of the year. Secondly, what is the legislative scope of it? What does it contain? And third is the structure. Do they do anything about the motion to vacate or what we do about motions, other motions on the floor?
So it’s substance. It’s timing. It’s structure. It’ll be up to Hakeem, and we all have confidence in him,” she added.
Jordan says he plans to seek third vote
Jim Jordan said that he plans to seek a third vote and has no plans of pulling out the House speaker race.
Speaking to reporters after tense closed-door meetings with other Republicans, Jordan said:
“I’m still running for speaker and I plan to go to the floor and get the vote and win this race.”
He added that he plans to speak with the 20 Republicans who voted against him to secure their support.
In attempts to buy time for a third round of votes for his own speakership, Jordan has thrown his support behind expanding House speaker pro tempore’s powers. The current interim House speaker is North Carolina’s Patrick McHenry.
Jordan’s decision to support McHenry’s interim speaker position has spurred mixed reactions, with Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene calling it “the wrong thing to do.”
Republican Matt Gaetz echoed similar sentiments, saying, “We need to stay here until we elect a speaker.”
Meanwhile, Democrat Jared Moskowitz hailed the decision, saying, “If there is a bipartisan deal to empower the pro-Temp, which I’m a favor of, I want to see the details of course first.”
Updated
Here is video of Jim Jordan telling reporters that he made a “pitch” in attempts to “lower the temperature” by throwing his support behind the House speaker pro temporare.
“We decided that wasn’t where we’re going to go. I’m still running for Speaker, and I plan to go to the floor and get the votes and win this race. But I want to a few of my colleauges. Particularly I want to talk with the 20 individuals who voted against me,” said Jordan.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) says he made a “pitch” on resolution to empower acting Speaker McHenry (R-NC) to “lower the temperature & get back to work.”
— The Recount (@therecount) October 19, 2023
“We decided that wasn't where we're going to go. I'm still running for Speaker, and I plan to go to the floor and get the votes.” pic.twitter.com/VShzcPB7DT
Additionally, Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman reports that Jordan said that he expects another speaker vote and added that he wants to meet with the 20 Republicans who voted against him.
It remains unclear when the next round of votes would be.
BREAKING — JORDAN says he expects another speaker vote.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 19, 2023
Says he wants to meet w the 20 nos.
Sherman also reports that House majority whip Tom Emmer as well as House majority leader Steve Scalise are curently opposed on the idea to elect a temporary speaker.
House Republican Conference paralyzed. House is in crisis. 16 days without a speaker.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 19, 2023
But now we know that the leadership is split on the idea to elect a temporary speaker. Emmer, Scalise say they are opposed.
McCarthy spoke in favor in the meeting -- to the extent he's still…
Commenting on the Patrick McHenry House resolution that is set to expand the chamber’s speaker pro tempore’s powers, Jim Jordan is reported to have said:
We made the pitch to members on the resolution as a way to lower the temperature and get back to work. We decided that wasn’t where we’re gonna go. I’m still running for speaker and I plan to go the floor and get the votes and win this race.”
JORDAN on the MCHENRY resolution:
— Reese Gorman (@reesejgorman) October 19, 2023
“We made the pitch to members on the resolution as a way to lower the temperature and get back to work. We decided that wasn't where we're gonna go. I'm still running for speaker and I plan to go the floor and get the votes and win this race.”
Updated
Steve Scalise, who dropped out of speaker race, said to be opposed to temporary solution
Steve Scalise, the majority leader of the House of Representatives, is reported to be opposed to the resolution to empower a temporary speaker.
“I’d rather us focus on getting a speaker elected,” Scalise is reported to have said, according to Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman.
🚨🚨NEWS — SCALISE says he’s opposed to the resolution to empower a temporary speaker.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 19, 2023
SCALISE: “I’d rather us focus on getting a speaker elected.”
Updated
Close-door Republican meeting gets heated, reports say
The closed-door GOP meeting is reported to be fairly tense.
According to CNN’s Melanie Zanona, sources said that Florida representative Matt Gaetz was told to sit down by former House speaker Kevin McCarthy and refused.
“Then Rep. [Michael] Bost ‘got all emotional’ and ‘was cussing at him’ and ‘telling him it’s all his fault,’ one member said,” Zanona added.
THINGS not going so great in GOP conference, which turned heated, I’m told.
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) October 19, 2023
At one point, Gaetz was told to sit down by McCarthy and refused, then Rep. Bost “got all emotional” and “was cussing at him” and “telling him it’s all his fault,” one member said.
She also reported that other Republicans are reportedly furious over Jim Jordan supporting the resolution to expand House speaker pro tempore Patrick McHenry’s powers, with some claiming that it is a self-serving move.
Other Republicans stood up and expressed fury over Jordan for backing the empowering McHenry resolution, and suggested it was a self serving move. Some members encouraged him to drop out of speaker’s race.
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) October 19, 2023
Updated
Dan Newhouse, a Republican representative from Washington, said “We need a reset” upon being asked by CNN’s Manu Raju whether Jim Jordan should stay as House speaker nominee.
Asked him if Jordan should say as speaker nominee. And he said: “We need a reset.” https://t.co/Y2MMYLzPnz
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 19, 2023
Raju also reports that in a closed-door meeting, a handful of Republicans urged Jordan to drop his speakership bid but he is not yielding, according to several sources.
In tense closed-door meeting, several GOP members urged Rep. Jim Jordan to drop his bid for the speakership, but he is not embracing those calls, according to multiple sources.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 19, 2023
Updated
Marjorie Taylor Greene says Jordan speaker delay 'wrong thing to do'
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican representative from Georgia, has criticized Jim Jordan’s reported decision to throw his support behind the House’s temporary speaker Patrick McHenry.
“I think that’s the wrong thing to do. [Jordan] wants to do that while he continues talking to people and finding a path. I completely disagree. I think we should all be able to find a path in that room right there and that requires putting the egos down. It requires humility,” said Greene.
Rep. MTG (R-GA) says Rep. Jim Jordan's (R-OH) reported decision to back empowering Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) as a “short-term” House Speaker is “the wrong thing to do”:
— The Recount (@therecount) October 19, 2023
“We should all be able to find a path in that room right there, and that requires putting the egos down.” pic.twitter.com/x5MjIrULHV
Updated
Jordan decision draws both praise and criticism from Republicans
Here are some responses from House representatives over Jim Jordan’s reported decision to throw his support behind House speaker pro tempore Patrick McHenry:
“I’m against ‘Speaker Light.’ I’m against Bud Light. I believe it is a constitutional desecration to not elect a speaker of the House. We need to stay here until we elect a speaker,” said Florida’s representative Matt Gaetz.
“Twisting and torturing the Constitution to empower a temporary speaker is having a ‘Speaker Light.’ That is not constitutionally contemplated, is deeply infirm, and I will do everything possible to stop it,” he added.
"I'm against 'Speaker Light.' I'm against Bud Light. I believe it is a constitutional desecration to not elect a Speaker of the House. We need to stay here until we elect a Speaker."
— The Recount (@therecount) October 19, 2023
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on possibility of Rep. McHenry (R-NC) becoming permanent acting Speaker pic.twitter.com/QcyORZszkb
Jared Moskowitz, Florida’s Democratic representative, told MSNBC that he is in favor of empowering McHenry as acting speaker, saying:
“If there is a bipartisan deal to empower the pro-Temp, which I’m a favor of, I want to see the details of course first. I’m in favor of to get the House open, to pass an Israel pact, to aid Ukraine, to do the people’s work here in the US Congress.
It’s gonna have to be a bipartisan path forward, should Democrats empower the Pro-Temp, and all of a sudden we go back to the way it was and that deal is gonna fall apart.”
Rep. Moskowitz (D-FL) says he’s in favor of a deal to empower Rep. McHenry (R-NC) as acting Speaker:
— The Recount (@therecount) October 19, 2023
“It's gonna have to be a bipartisan path forward, should Democrats empower the Pro-Temp, and all of a sudden we go back to the way it was and that deal is gonna fall apart.” pic.twitter.com/4tc2suU0M5
Updated
Republican politicians' inflammatory rhetoric threatens safety of Arab Americans, Muslim groups warn
As the Israel-Hamas war intensifies, Muslim groups across the US are warning that the inflammatory rhetoric coming from Republican politicians threatens the safety of Arab Americans.
The Guardian’s Chris McGreal reports:
Muslim groups in the US have warned the outpouring of extreme language is threatening the safety of Arab Americans following the killing of a six-year-old boy and the wounding of his mother by their landlord in Illinois in an apparent hate crime prompted by the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The police said Joseph Czuba stabbed the boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, to death after entering their apartment and shouting: “You Muslims must die!”.
Some politicians have also spoken out against inciting language, including the Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen.
“We must call out Hamas for the evil that it is. But those seeking to use this moment to demonize & dehumanize all Palestinians & Muslims are complicit in the deaths of innocents like the brutal hate killing of this six-year-old Palestinian-American boy, stabbed to death in Chicago,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
For the full story, click here:
Refusing to drop out, Republican Representative Jim Jordan told GOP colleagues today he would back a temporary US House speaker for the next several months as he works to shore up support to win the gavel himself, the Associated Press reports.
Jordan delivered the message at a closed door meeting at the Capitol as the Republican majority considered an extraordinary plan to give the interim speaker pro-tempore, Representative Patrick McHenry, more powers to reopen the House and conduct crucial business until January, according to Republicans who attended the private meeting and insisted on anonymity to discuss it.
There is a sinking realization that the House could remain endlessly stuck, out of service and without a leader for the foreseeable future as the Republican majority spirals deeper into dysfunction. The impasse has left some Republican lawmakers settling in for a protracted stretch.
McHenry has brushed off attempts to take the job more permanently after he was appointed to the role after the unprecedented ousting of Kevin McCarthy more than two weeks ago.
I did not ask for additional powers. My duty is to get the next speaker elected. That’s my focus,” said McHenry, a North Carolina Republican who is well-liked by his colleagues and viewed as a highly competent legislator.
Elevating McHenry to an expanded speaker’s role would not be as politically simple as it might seem. The hard-right Republican lawmakers including some who ousted McCarthy, don’t like the idea.
Asinine,” said Chip Roy of Texas, a leader of far-right House Freedom Caucus.
While Democrats have suggested the arrangement, Republicans are loth to partner with the Democrats in a bipartisan way. And it’s highly unlikely Republicans could vote to give McHenry more powers on their own, even though they have majority control of the House.
It’s a bad precedent and I don’t support it,” said Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the Freedom Caucus chairman.
Installing a temporary speaker for the next few months is backed by many of Jordan’s opponents and would give him an offramp so he would not have to declare defeat.
Next steps were highly uncertain on Thursday as angry, frustrated Republicans looked at other options. Some predict the House could stay essentially shuttered, as it has been almost all month, until the mid-November deadline for Congress to approve funding or risk a federal government shutdown.
I think clearly Nov. 17 is a real date,” said Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, who leads a large conservative caucus, referring to the next deadline.
What was clear was that Jordan’s path to become House speaker was almost certainly lost, after he failed in a crucial second ballot on Wednesday, opposed by 22 Republicans, two more than he lost in first-round voting the day before.
Updated
The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, said that the justice department was monitoring an increase in reported threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities in the United States tied to Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.
The entire justice department remains vigilant in our efforts to identify and respond to hate crimes, threats of violence, or related incidents, with particular attention to threats to faith communities,” Garland said in prepared remarks at a news conference in Jacksonville, Florida.
Garland said that last week he had directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation and US attorneys’ offices to work with state and local law enforcement agencies to respond to threats, and urged federal prosecutors to be in contact with faith and community leaders.
Garland plans to meet later today with law enforcement officials in Miami, home to one of the largest Jewish populations in the US.
The 7 October cross-border terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel and Israel’s subsequent bombing of the Hamas-controlled enclave of Gaza have sparked tensions around the world, including in the United States.
The FBI said on Monday it was investigating the stabbing death of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a six-year-old Muslim boy, in Illinois as a hate crime. A suspect has already been charged with state crimes, and authorities said the boy and his mother were targeted because they were Palestinian Americans.
US authorities on Tuesday charged a North Carolina man for allegedly sending a threatening message to a Jewish organization. Even before the current war, the Anti-Defamation League reported a record number of antisemitic incidents in the United States in 2022.
Updated
Jim Jordan to delay House speakership bid and support expansion of interim speaker's powers
Jim Jordan has informed Republicans that he will suspend his bid for House speakership and will support Republican Patrick McHenry to assume the role temporarily, a lawmaker said on Thursday, Reuters reports.
In response to a question of what he expected as he entered another closed-door meeting with other Republicans, Jordan replied: “I’m not going to know until I talk to my colleagues.”
In that meeting, Jordan said he would not seek a third vote to win the post and instead will back a plan to empower McHenry to hold the post until January, according to Republican representative Jim Banks.
McHenry is currently serving as acting speaker.
A handful of Democrats and Republicans alike have called on McHenry’s speaker pro tempore’s powers to be expanded so the House could resume its business.
Updated
Top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries said that Democrats have not yet assumed a position on the resolution to empower temporary House speaker Patrick McHenry.
Speaking to CNN’s Manu Raju, Jeffries said:
“Jim Jordan is still the speaker nominee and our goal is to prevent him, a clear and present danger to our democracy and the poster child for Maga extremism, from becoming the speaker.
The Republicans have to end this saga as opposed to us having another futile effort to elevate an insurrectionist to lead the House of Representatives.”
Hakeem Jeffries says Dems have not yet taken a position on the resolution to empower McHenry. Says first goal is to end Jordan’s speakership bid
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 19, 2023
Also Jordan ally Warren Davidson said last night that JJ has “plenty in tank” to keep bid alive pic.twitter.com/Z1xMAvrSRy
Iowa’s Republican representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks said that she has received death threats after she switched from voting for Jim Jordan to another House Republican.
Miller-Meeks, who voted for Jordan on Tuesday then voted for Texas representative Kay Granger on Wednesday, wrote in a statement:
“Since my vote ... I have received credible death threats and a barrage of threatening calls. The proper authorities have been notified and my office is cooperating fully.
One thing I cannot stomach, or support is a bully. Someone who threatens another with bodily harm or tries to suppress differing opinions undermines oppurtunity for unity and regard for freedom of speech.”
The Office of Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks has released the following statement:https://t.co/7l2EkLagx4 pic.twitter.com/R8mUPQ6RRW
— Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, M.D. (@RepMMM) October 18, 2023
Jim Jordan won't hold third vote and support McHenry as interim speaker until January, reports say
Jim Jordan is reported to not hold a third round of votes for his House speakership candidacy.
According to Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman, Jordan, who has lost two rounds of votes already, will support North Carolina’s Patrick McHenry as interim speaker until January.
NEWS — JIM JORDAN will not hold a third ballot for speaker. He will back PATRICK MCHENRY as an interim speaker until JANUARY.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 19, 2023
MCCARTHY, MCHENRY, JORDAN, COLE and EMMER met this morning
We reported this this AM in @PunchbowlNews AM.
CONFERENCE STARTING NOW.
Updated
President Biden to deliver primetime address tonight on Israel, Ukraine
President Joe Biden is set to deliver a primetime address tonight at 8pm ET in which he will discuss the US response to the wars between Israel and Hamas, as well as Ukraine and Russia.
Biden’s remarks follow a brief visit to Tel Aviv in which he met with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During the visit, Biden pledged support for Israel in its fight against Hamas but cautioned Israel to not be “consumed by rage.”
He also urged Israel to “not repeat” the same mistakes the US made after 9/11.
Biden’s speech comes as the House of Representatives remain in a weeks-long limbo as Republicans continue to struggle to decide on a speaker.
With the House essentially paralyzed and unable to pass legislation, Biden is expected to face hurdles in his likely additional requests for funds for both wars.
Speaking of Biden’s upcoming address, deputy national security adviser Jon Finer told MSNBC:
“This will also be very much a message to the American people: how those conflicts connect to our lives back here, how support from the American people and the Congress, frankly, is essential.”
Updated
With Sidney Powell pleading guilty, Thursday’s developments mark a significant win for Fulton county district Fani Willis who delivered a 41-count indictment against ex-president Donald Trump and his operatives earlier this year.
Here are the six counts Powell pleaded guilty to:
Trump routinely labels his indictments "election interference."
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) October 19, 2023
His former lawyer Sidney Powell just effectively pleaded guilty to six counts of election interference. pic.twitter.com/HJW7GkAMeO
Powell has been ordered to pay $1,000 per count.
For the full story, click here:
Updated
Sidney Powell's waiver of indictment
Here is Sidney Powell’s waiver of indictment which she signed on Thursday:
ALERT: Sidney Powell is pleading guilty in Fulton County, Georgia criminal case pic.twitter.com/asu2bWPQNr
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) October 19, 2023
“I understand that I may enter a plea and be tried on this accusation according to the same rules of substantive and procedural laws relating to defendants who have been indicted by a grand jury,” the waiver said.
Powell was set to go on trial alongside lawyer Kenneth Chesebro who faces seven counts after allegedly participating in a widespread attempt to subvert the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.
With Powell pleading guilty, Chesebro is set to go on trial by himself. On Thursday, ABC reported that Chesebro rejected a plea deal from prosecutors, according to sources with familiar knowledge.
Updated
Here is video of the the plea agreement being read out to Sidney Powell in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday:
BREAKING: Sidney Powell has just plead guilty in the Fulton County Election interference case!
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) October 19, 2023
As part of the plea agreement, she will:
- Get 6 years probations
- A fine
- Have to testify against anyone else related to the case (This apparently includes Former President Trump)… pic.twitter.com/iVbj5vc7BJ
Powell is now the second defendant in the case to plead guilty, following bail bondsman Scott Graham Hall who pleaded guilty last month to five misdemeanor charges.
Updated
Former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell to take plea agreement in Georgia election subversion case
Former Donald Trump lawyer Sidney Powell is taking a plea agreement in Georgia’s Fulton county and will plead guilty in the Georgia election subversion case.
BREAKING: Fmr Trump lawyer Sidney Powell is taking a plea agreement in Fulton County and will guilty, just days before jury selection was scheduled to start
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) October 19, 2023
Powell’s guilty plea to six counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with performance of election duties in the Georgia case comes a day before her trial was set to begin.
Powell will get six years’ probation, a $6,000 fine, $2,700 restitution to the state of Georgia, writing an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia and to testify truthfully at trial, the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports.
Updated
Marjorie Taylor Greene has announced that she plans to file a censure resolution against Michigan’s Democratic representative Rashida Tlaib.
Greene called Tlaib a “terrorist sympathizer” and accused her of being an “Israel hating America hating woman who does not represent anything America stands for.”
I’m writing a censure resolution for Rashida Tlaib.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) October 19, 2023
After what she did today, I expect even Democrats will join in.
She is an Israel hating America hating woman who does not represent anything America stands for.
Since the war broke out between Israel and Hamas, Tlaib, who is Palestinian American, has repeatedly called for the need of a ceasefire and de-escalation in the conflict.
On Wednesday, hundreds of anti-Zionist Jewish demonstrators protested in the rotunda of the Canon Building on Capitol Hill and called for a ceasefire while chanting, “Not in our name!”
In response to the protests, Tlaib tweeted, “Thank you to our Jewish allies from across the country who joined in solidarity to call for a ceasefire now.”
Thank you to our Jewish allies from across the country who joined in solidarity to call for a #CeasefireNOW.
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) October 18, 2023
Chanting “Not in Our Name.” https://t.co/IXcOfmhDM0
Updated
As Democrats and Republicans increasingly call for the expansion of powers surrounding Patrick McHenry, the House’s speaker pro tempore, here is the Guardian’s profile on the North Carolina congressman:
The 47-year-old, a Republican, was once the youngest member of Congress, first elected in 2004 at the age of 29. He is now in his 10th term representing North Carolina’s 10th congressional district and chairs the committee on financial services.
His political career is long: before Congress, he served in the North Carolina house of representatives and he worked on the former president George W Bush’s 2000 campaign.
While the top contenders for the speakership have, at least to some degree, cast doubt on the 2020 election, McHenry voted to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 win.
McHenry helped McCarthy become speaker and was a key negotiator in the debt limit deal that got McCarthy booted by the far-right flank of the Republican party.
But he also, soon after taking the interim role, ordered the former speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, to vacate her office in a “sharp departure from tradition”, Pelosi charged.
For the full profile, click here:
Updated
Top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries has hit back at far-right Republicans whom he accused on Thursday of wanting to “elevate Jim Jordan because he is willing to cut social security and Medicare”.
“Extreme Maga Republicans have said the quiet part out loud,” Jeffries said.
Extreme MAGA Republicans have said the quiet part out loud.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) October 19, 2023
They want to elevate Jim Jordan because he is willing to cut Social Security and Medicare.
Whoa.
Earlier, Jeffries called for House Republicans to “reject extremism and embrace bipartisanship” amid the ongoing political infighting amongst GOP officials.
Updated
Following Jim Jordan’s failure to secure 217 votes needed for his speakership candidacy, former House speaker and Democratic representative Nancy Pelosi said that his defeat was a “triumph for democracy”.
Speaking to reporters, Pelosi said:
“It was a triumph for democracy in our country that an insurrectionist was rejected by the Republicans again as their candidate for speaker. We’ve always wished the winning party well as they choose their leader … but today and yesterday, that was an assault on our democracy as Jim Jordan assaulted our democracy on January 6.”
After leaving a House Democratic Caucus meeting, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, "it was a triumph for democracy in our country that an insurrectionist was rejected by the Republicans again as their candidate for Speaker." pic.twitter.com/uHnU2XfZtV
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 18, 2023
According to the House select committee that investigated the 2021 January 6 riots, Jordan was a “significant player” in Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the election.
Updated
Growing calls emerge from Democrats and Republicans to expand House speaker pro tempore's powers
With the House in its weeks-long gridlock, there are increasing calls from across the aisle to expand the powers of the chamber’s acting speaker, North Carolina’s Patrick McHenry.
Oregon’s Republican representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer (who opposes Jim Jordan), tweeted:
“It’s time to empower the speaker pro tempore. The Republican conference is still deeply divided. While we continue working on finding a consensus candidate for speaker…we must resume the business of governing.”
I fully support empowering the Speaker Pro Tempore ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/41AxtFY5xD
— Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (@RepLCD) October 18, 2023
On Monday, Pennsylvania’s Republican representative Mike Kelly introduced a resolution that would allow the House to expand the speaker pro tempore’s power, saying:
“By electing Representative McHenry as Speaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives, the House will be able to hold votes necessary to fund the government beyond the expiration of our current fiscal year.”
Centrist Democrats from the Blue Dog Coalition have also voiced support for expanding McHenry’s powers at “15 calendar day increments”.
Updated
Good morning,
The House of Representatives remains in another day of limbo and without a speaker as Ohio’s Republican representative Jim Jordan failed to secure 217 votes in Wednesday’s second round of voting.
Four Republicans who threw their support behind Jordan on Tuesday voted against him on Wednesday. Meanwhile, two Republicans who initially voted against him switched to supporting him yesterday.
Following yesterday’s vote in which a total of 22 Republicans opposed Jordan, the hard-right Donald Trump ally told reporters, “We’ll keep talking to members, keep working on it.” Upon being asked whether he planned to host a third round of voting on Thursday, Jordan said he hoped to do so and said that he would confer with the acting speaker, North Carolina’s Patrick McHenry.
The GOP’s ongoing infighting has left the House paralyzed since hard-right Republicans voted earlier this month to oust former speaker and fellow Republican Kevin McCarthy, an unprecedented move. The House’s state of limbo comes amid a precarious moment on the world stage amid the ongoing conflicts between Israel and Hamas, as well as Ukraine and Russia.
With the House set to convene at noon today, here are other developments:
President Joe Biden has cautioned Israel to not “repeat mistakes” made by the US following 9/11 during his visit to Tel Aviv.
Florida Republican representative Matt Gaetz has issued an apology over an email that blamed other Republicans amid the House speaker fight.
Muslim groups are warning that the inflammatory rhetoric on Palestine by Republican politicans is endangering Arab Americans.
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