Speakin’ ain’t easy

The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a new Speaker later today, in a bid to resume legislative business amid a two-week hiatus brought on by the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

🏛️⏪ How we got here: In late September, McCarthy threw his support behind a bipartisan stopgap bill to temporarily avoid a government shutdown for 45 days. As a result, a group of House Republicans who had been pushing for a smaller federal budget – led by Rep. Matt Gaetz – called for a vote to oust McCarthy from his Speaker position.

The measure was approved two weeks ago by a 216-210 margin, with eight Republicans joining Democrats in voting for removal. The move left Rep. Patrick McHenry acting as speaker pro tempore, a placeholder position created after September 11, 2001, to ensure continuity of government in case the speaker is killed or incapacitated.

Following McCarthy’s ouster, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Rep. Jim Jordan both tossed their hats in the ring to be nominated as the GOP’s next Speaker.

• Rep. Scalise narrowly won the first internal vote among House Republicans last Wednesday. But he withdrew from consideration for Speaker a day later, saying it was clear he lacked enough support to pass a full chamber vote.
• Rep. Jordan won the following internal GOP Speaker election on Friday, setting up a formal House vote at noon ET today.

👀 Looking ahead… Once the House approves a new Speaker, the chamber will immediately begin working on several time-sensitive pieces of legislation, including a bill to fund the government that needs to be passed by November 17 to avoid a shutdown and an aid package for Israel following the recent Hamas attack.