Another one bites the dust

[edschweppe]

Not only not the Speaker of the House, but no longer even the Republican nominee: House Republicans drop Jim Jordan as their nominee for speaker, stumbling back to square one

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans abruptly dropped Rep. Jim Jordan on Friday as their nominee for House speaker, making the decision during a closed-door session after the hard-edged ally of Donald Trump failed badly on a third ballot for the gavel.

The outcome left Republicans dejected, frustrated and sinking deeper into turmoil, another week without a House speaker bordering on a full-blown crisis. House Republicans have no realistic or working plan to unite the fractured GOP majority, elect a new speaker and return to the work of Congress that has been languishing since hard-liners ousted Kevin McCarthy at the start of the month.

[ ... ]

Their majority control floundering, Republicans left the private session blaming one another for the divisions they have created. Next steps were highly uncertain, as a wide range of Republican lawmakers started pitching themselves for speaker.

But it appears no one at present can win a GOP majority, leaving the House without a speaker and unable to function for the foreseeable future, an embarrassing blow to a central U.S. seat of government.

The official tally of the third House ballot was 210 votes for Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries, 194 for Jordan, 25 for various not-Jordan Republicans, and four members not voting. Reportedly the private vote in the GOP conference to keep Jordan as their nominee was 112 nays and 86 yeas.

I have no clue where this goes next, although I'm guessing it's going nowhere slowly and painfully.