House Republicans huddled Friday morning to consider internal rules changes that would require the conference to unite behind a speaker candidate before going to the floor, including a proposal that would strip committee assignments from members who reverse themselves on the floor and vote “no.”
But the conference rejected two proposals, and two others weren’t even offered, according to sources familiar with the debate. That’s a sign that the typical secret procedure — voting for a candidate by secret ballot, with a simple majority required to become the nominee — was likely to play out again, despite no candidate currently breaking through.
Republicans took a break from their conference meeting after about 90 minutes and will reconvene at 1 p.m. to hear from any declared candidates, including, presumably, Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Jordan narrowly lost to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., in Wednesday’s internal conference election, but Scalise ended his bid Thursday night after it became clear that he didn’t have enough backing to win a majority of the full House on the floor.
