Jim Jordan Builds Momentum Ahead of Speaker Vote

The Ohio Republican won over some key holdouts ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [The Fisc](   By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey Good evening! As the Israel-Hamas conflict continues, President Joe Biden postponed a planned trip today to Colorado, where he had been slated to promote “Bidenomics” in Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert’s district as part of what his administration has labeled the “Investing in America” tour. The White House said Biden instead stayed in Washington to participate in national security meetings. The House, meanwhile, is still working on selecting a speaker, though it increasingly looks like Republicans are falling in line behind Rep. Jim Jordan. And the Senate is looking to put together an aid package for Israel. “We will work with the Israeli government and the Biden administration to assemble the most generous package possible,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters in Israel Sunday, adding that he hoped lawmakers could take up the bill within the next few weeks. “Now people will ask, what about the House? We're not waiting for the House,” Schumer said. “We believe that if the Senate acts in a strong bipartisan way it may indeed improve the chances that the House, even with its current dysfunction, will act.” The next speaker of the House? (Reuters) Heir Jordan? Republican Hardliner Builds Momentum to Take Over Speakership With a vote in the full House scheduled for noon on Tuesday, Rep. Jim Jordan is gaining support in his effort to become the next speaker. “I feel real good about the momentum we have and I think we're real close," Jordan told reporters Monday. Republicans made Jordan their nominee in a closed-door vote on Friday, when he easily defeated a challenge from Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia, an ally of former speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was voted out of office 13 days ago. But Jordan fell well short of the 217 votes he will need on the House floor, immediately raising questions about whether he can gain enough support to win the speakership. Some Republicans have questioned Jordan’s suitability for such a prominent leadership role, given his involvement in a variety of controversies, including the effort to halt the certification of the 2020 election and government shutdowns in 2013 and 2018. Former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney has even suggested that Jordan is a threat to democracy itself. “If the Republicans decide that Jim Jordan should be the speaker of the House, there would no longer be any possible way to argue that a group of elected Republicans could be counted on to defend the Constitution,” she said in a recent speech. Former Speaker John Boehner, another establishment figure chased from office by hard-right rebels, described Jordan as a “legislative terrorist” who spent most of his time “tearing things apart.” Applying pressure: Jordan and his backers — who include former president Donald Trump — have waged an intense campaign to pressure the more than 50 GOP lawmakers who said they are undecided or opposed to the Ohio Republican’s candidacy. A handful of key lawmakers who had declared they were no votes — including House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers of Alabama; Rep. Ken Calvert of California, who leads the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee; and Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri, who said last week that she would “absolutely not” vote for Jordan — announced Monday that they are now backing him, suggesting that opposition is starting to crack. After Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas said early Monday that Republicans may need to work with Democrats to elect a bipartisan speaker, some Republicans say they are now supporting Jordan to ensure that Democrats play no role in electing the next speaker. “Too much is at stake to hand control of the House over to radical liberal Democrats, which is why we must elect a conservative as the next Speaker,” Wagner wrote on social media. Fox News host Sean Hannity has entered the fray, as well. According to Juliegrace Brufke of Axios, Hannity’s show sent emails to potential no votes making it clear that the influential right-wing opinion maker is backing Jordan. “Hannity would like to know why during a war breaking out between Israel and Hamas, with the war in Ukraine, with the wide open borders, with a budget that's unfinished why would Rep. xxxx be against Jim Jordan for speaker?” the email reportedly [says](. “Please let us know when Rep xxx plans on opening the People's House so work can be done. Lastly, are there any conditions Rep xxxx will work with Democrats on the process of electing a new speaker?” The scheduling of a public floor vote is also designed to pressure reluctant Republican lawmakers, says analyst Chris Kreuger of TD Cowen Washington Research Group. “Jordan strategy to force the public House vote to put GOP holdouts on record — and invite ire of MAGA grassroots given Trump's support of Jordan,” Kreuger wrote Monday. Some Republicans may end up supporting Jordan just to put an end to the chaos that has engulfed the House for nearly two weeks — but the vote could be a perilous one for GOP lawmakers from districts that went for Joe Biden in 2020. “It’s a grueling decision for the GOP lawmakers who fear Jordan’s scorched-earth brand of politics won’t suit their swing districts and could alienate the independent voters they rely on to get elected,” Sahil Kapur of NBC News [writes](. The bottom line: All in all, momentum appears to be building for Jordan, who appeared to be a long shot just a few days ago. “The people opposing him are moderates. Either he gets it or the moderates for the first time ever grow a spine,” one unnamed GOP aide told NBC. --------------------------------------------------------------- Send your feedback to yrosenberg@thefiscaltimes.com. And please encourage your friends to [sign up here]( for their own copy of this newsletter. --------------------------------------------------------------- Fiscal News Roundup - [Jordan’s Wall of Opposition Starts to Crumble, With 24 Hours Before Speaker Vote]( – Politico - [Jordan Inches Closer to Speakership, but Republican Holdouts Remain]( – New York Times - [Republican Says a Deal With Democrats 'Will Have to Be Done' if GOP Can't Break Speaker Impasse]( – NBC News - [Vulnerable Republicans Face a Moment of Reckoning With Jim Jordan Speaker Vote]( – NBC News - [House, Senate Return With Divergent To-Do Lists]( – Politico - [Schumer Says Senate Must Move First to Pass Aid for Israel Amid Speaker Fight]( – The Hill - [Biden Administration Reaches Settlement on Family Separations]( – The Hill - [GOP States Raise Fees on Electric Cars as Gas Taxes Fall]( – Washington Post - [Medicare Will Remove Limits on PET Scans Used With New Alzheimer’s Drugs]( – The Hill - [Here’s What It Would Take for Insurance to Cover Weight Loss Drugs]( – NBC News - ['It’s Not a Red State, Blue State Thing': Senators Form Bipartisan Mental Health Caucus]( – NBC News - [Notable Federal Workers to Be Honored at Kennedy Center This Week]( – Washington Post - [Lockheed’s F-35 Quality Flaws Persist as Production Ramps Up]( – Bloomberg - [A Supreme Court Dispute Over a $15,000 IRS Bill May Be Aimed at a Never-Enacted Tax on Billionaires]( – Associated Press - [These Houses Are at Risk of Falling Into the Sea. 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