GOP May Vote To Expand Interim Speaker McHenry’s Power

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan failed to get enough votes to become the Speaker of the House for the second consecutive day. He had more members of the House vote against him the second time around.

This marks the second week that the House has been without a Speaker.

With a deadline to craft and pass a spending bill to keep the federal government from shutting down coming up on November 17, an effort to empower Interim Speaker Patrick McHenry is gaining steam.

McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, was chosen by ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to serve as speaker pro tempore. His powers are currently limited to overseeing the election for the next speaker.

Due to those limits, the House is effectively locked in a legislative stalemate without a speaker who can call for votes to be held on legislation.

Since the House currently seems incapable of voting for a speaker, Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania put forward a resolution to elect McHenry as speaker pro tempore, expanding his limited powers.

Last night, I introduced a resolution that would allow the House of Representatives to hold a formal election of the Honorable Patrick McHenry (R-NC) as Speaker Pro Tempore. McHenry is currently designated as Speaker Pro Tempore, which limits his powers (1/4) pic.twitter.com/qvaAxkaI0b

— Rep. Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyPA) October 17, 2023

Ken Buck, one of the 22 Republicans who voted against Jim Jordan on Wednesday, also supports expanding McHenry’s power.

Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) says an option for the House GOP to pass “urgent” bills is to give acting Speaker Patrick McHenry (R-NC) “full power” for 30 days:

“There is other business that we need to get done in terms of spending and making sure that we keep the government open.” pic.twitter.com/27oXcJPtKt

— The Recount (@therecount) October 17, 2023

From CNBC:

Doing so “would allow the House to move critical legislation, including appropriations bills, to the floor for full consideration” by the fast-approaching government funding deadline, Kelly said in a statement Tuesday.

Another House Republican, Ohio’s Dave Joyce, told NBC News earlier Wednesday that he would introduce his own resolution to elect McHenry.

“After two weeks without a Speaker of the House and no clear candidate with 217 votes in the Republican conference, it is time to look at other viable options,” Joyce told NBC in a statement.

“By empowering Patrick McHenry as Speaker Pro Tempore we can take care of our ally Israel until a new Speaker is elected,” Joyce said.

Some centrist Democrats have already endorsed the idea of expanding McHenry’s authorities for 15-day increments at a time. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also voiced his support for the idea.

Even though the resolution has received bi-partisan support, some Republican House members, including Jordan, don’t think it’s a good idea.

HAPPENING NOW: Jim Jordan pushes back on a resolution to empower Rep. Patrick McHenry to be permanent acting Speaker

“I got 90% of the Republicans in the conference supporting me.” pic.twitter.com/GDp8ikR09X

— Eric Spracklen🦆🐈 (@EricSpracklen) October 18, 2023

Instead, the Ohio Congressman plans to continue trying to flip the House members who voted against him.

With the way the vote for the Speaker of the House has gone over the past two weeks, there might not be an end in sight.