According to a new report, House Republicans are working with the Democratic Party to ensure Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) does not secure the Speakership role.
NBC News reported that U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) and several other Republicans have participated in closed-door meetings with Democrat House Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to reach a solution to keep Jordan from securing the required 218 votes to become the new House Speaker.
Only five Republicans need to vote “no” to succeed.
“They put us in this ditch along with eight traitors,” Rogers told reporters. “We’re still the majority party; we’re willing to work with them, but they gotta tell us what they need.”
On Sunday, Jefferies confirmed that the parties have plotted against Jordan to keep him from taking former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) seat.
“There are informal conversations that have been underway. When we get back to Washington tomorrow, it’s important to begin to formalize those discussions,” Jeffries said during an interview with Meet the Press.
“From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have made clear that we want to continue to put people over politics and to fight for things like lower costs, better-paying jobs, safer communities, and to build an economy that works from the middle out and the bottom up. On the other hand, House Republicans have been focused on fighting each other,” he continued. “It’s time to end the Republican civil war so we can get back to doing the business of the American people. And we as House Democrats are committed to finding that bipartisan path forward in a meaningful way.”
Rogers referred to the eight Republicans who chose to oust McCarthy as “traitors” and have “paralyzed” the GOP wing.
He also reportedly said that there was nothing Jordan could do to get his support as Speaker of the House.
McCarthy, on the other hand, has given Jordan his full support, saying that he thinks the Ohio congressman would “do an excellent job.”
Jefferies said that it was on his “Republican colleagues” why formal conversations were not yet underway.