Evening summary: House has no speaker as GOP infighting continues
We’re wrapping up our live US politics coverage today, with the US congress still in limbo during an international crisis because of infighting between different segments of the Republican party. Key things to know:
Trump ally Jim Jordan emerged as the next Republican House speaker nominee, after he won the largest share of support in an internal party vote.
But a subsequent internal vote, gauging whether Republicans were ready to formalize their support of Jordan in an official floor vote, showed that Jordan only has the backing of a reported 152 Republican House members, while 55 oppose him. Jordan needs a total of 217 votes in order to be elected speaker.
After this vote, Republicans decided to leave for the weekend with no further votes, giving Jordan and his allies time over the weekend to attempt to win over more Republican support.
It remains unclear if Republicans will hold an official floor vote next week to make Jordan speaker regardless of whether internal vote counting shows he has enough votes to win, a move that ousted speaker Kevin McCarthy has urged the party to try, but that Jordan has previously indicated he would oppose.
In another House spectacle, Republican representative George Santos flew into a tirade on Friday with someone who appeared to be a protestor, saying that he “has no business” of being at the Capitol and called him a “terrorist sympathizer.”
While yelling as cameras pointed in his face, Santos said, “What is happening in Israel is abhorrent. What is happening to the people of Israel should not be defended. Nobody defending Hamas should have any business in this building.”
Rep. George Santos (R-NY): "The gentleman back there is a terrorist sympathizer that has no business in this building… Nobody defending Hamas has any business in this building whether you're elected, whether you're a civilian." It is unclear who he is referencing. pic.twitter.com/K57QWsrq1S
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 13, 2023
