Kevin McCarthy removed as US House speaker

[EnterpriseSovereign]

How much will Nancy Pelosi be loving this?

[bilateralrope]

Empty speaker’s office aggravates House-Senate beef

It’s not just increased fears about a shutdown. Senators would consider themselves lucky to end the year without a catastrophe.

By BURGESS EVERETT

10/07/2023 07:00 AM EDT

The chaos-ridden, speaker-less House is threatening to stymie a host of bipartisan legislative efforts across the Capitol — and senators are getting really tired of it.

Forget the expectations earlier this year of achieving even modest policy reforms, or passing spending bills under so-called “regular order.” Senators will consider themselves lucky to escape the calendar year without a catastrophe. Among the possibilities: a shutdown and a crush of blown deadlines on expiring legislation addressing aviation law, surveillance authority and flood insurance.

Possibly, the best case is lurching from crisis to crisis until the presidential election.

“It’s hard to pass legislation and send it to the president when one House is not able to function,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said of the prognosis for the months ahead, one of several senators interviewed who implied the legislative calendar is looking bleak.

One of the frontrunners for House speaker, Jim Jordan of Ohio, didn’t even support the stopgap spending bill that avoided a shutdown. And he opposes new aid for Ukraine — the two biggest priorities among Senate Democrats and at least half of the Senate Republicans.

What’s more, with no speaker and no clear candidate who has the votes to wrap up an election quickly, there’s no one currently empowered to negotiate with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the White House on behalf of the only Republican-controlled lever of the federal government.

“Only a new speaker [can negotiate], if they’re willing to do that,” echoed Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), a former House member. “Somebody has to face the reality.”

The Senate’s challenges for the next few months are tough to square with the disorderly state of the House GOP majority. Aviation law, surveillance authority and flood insurance all expire later this year. That’s not to mention modest Senate policy priorities that bipartisan gangs are coalescing around.

More urgently, Ukraine is desperate for more money, even as a big aid package looks increasingly difficult. Marrying border security with that money could prove enticing with the GOP, but a grand bargain on a divisive policy issue with a slim House majority is the precise opposite of a cakewalk.

And just days after passing a stopgap funding bill, everyone’s already gaming out the chances of a shutdown in barely more than a month.

“It’s certainly not an improvement of the odds,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said.

With no one to run the show in the House, headway on the Nov. 17 shutdown date is essentially frozen. The House is the major problem, but not the only one: The Senate is now in recess until mid-October and still laboring to pass a three-bill spending package. That delay’s made it all the more difficult to look more functional than the House — which is a low bar to clear.

Both chambers are plodding forward with their own spending blueprints, but a best-case scenario may be punting the shutdown fight to Christmastime. It’s safe to say a series of rolling, short-term deadlines alongside a war in Europe is absolutely not conducive to passing more entrepreneurial bipartisan legislation.

Instead, Schumer’s ambitious agenda looks tougher than ever, including bills that would address cannabis banking laws, passenger rail safety and artificial intelligence, a particular focus for him. None of those have passed the Senate yet, and it’s hard to see how any get through the House woodchipper.

“It’s a group of politicians over there that make people hate Washington,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who chairs the Senate Banking Committee. He has several bills he’d like to turn into law, primarily the bipartisan rail safety bill and clawing back pay from bad-acting CEOs. Bypassed priorities do not help Brown, who is up for reelection in a red state.

All the disorder is enough to depress the remaining bipartisan dealmakers in Congress. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) will retire at the end of next year, having seen enough of the gridlock to know it’s likely to continue, if not grow worse, in the near future.

Another undecided centrist senator says every spasm of disarray weighs on him.

“The political sin is if you work with the other side,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who plans to decide on his political future by the end of the year.

He had developed an amicable relationship with now-former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and said the chaos across the Capitol “makes you evaluate everything: Where you are in your life, what you want the rest of your life to be.”

Manchin worries that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will become a “time bomb,” eventually forcing the United States to engage even more in Europe without action. Republican and Democratic supporters alike are loudly warning that without more support, Russia could drag the United States into direct conflict if Moscow invades a NATO ally.

Could it get worse? Maybe. McCarthy was just booted from the speakership because he greenlighted a stopgap spending bill. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said conservatives are “going to blow up on” another business-as-usual, short-term spending bill. And all that could set the stage for a massive “omnibus” spending bill — which would infuriate members in both chambers.

A best-case scenario is a Republican speaker emerges with some political capital to spend in negotiations with the Senate.

“Whoever they elect, I hope they’re not going to have the same Sword of Damocles hanging over his head,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).

When senators returns to D.C. on Oct. 16, it’ll be just a monthlong sprint to the next shutdown fight. And there is not enough time for Congress to pass all its annual spending bills without extraordinary coordination between the chambers and cooperation in the House. The former was already nonexistent during McCarthy’s tenure; the House’s current predicament doesn’t foreshadow any improvement.

That likely sets up another shutdown cliff — and a mad scramble to avoid going over it. Not that the Senate can do much about it right now anyway.

Other than passing Senate spending bills and hoping for the best, “truthfully, there’s not much else I can do,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.).

Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

Lots of Republican caused chaos. Hopefully people remember they caused it when it comes to the election.

[bilateralrope]

How Trump was talked into — and out of — a run for speaker

A behind-the-scenes campaign coaxed the former president out of a quixotic campaign.

By RYAN LIZZA and RACHAEL BADE
10/06/2023 09:01 AM EDT

Just hours after Kevin McCarthy was deposed as House speaker, the “draft Trump” movement began.

“I called him and I said, ‘Sir, I’m nominating you for the speaker of the House,’” said Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), describing a Tuesday call to former President Donald Trump. “I said, ‘I think that you would do a great job fixing the brokenness we see in the Congress.’”

So began a wild 48-hour scramble that saw Trump openly pondering a quixotic bid to become the first nonmember to be elected speaker before his political advisers and House allies managed to convince him it was a terrible idea.

The Trump-for-speaker bubble officially popped early Friday morning, when he took sides in the brewing battle between Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.).

“Congressman Jim Jordan has been a STAR,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!”

It was not preordained that Trump would bless Jordan, his longtime ally and most loyal defender in Congress. Nehls and a handful of the ex-president’s loyalists in the House, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), immediately went to work trying to turn “Speaker Trump” from fever dream into reality.

Nehls said he even researched the question of whether Trump’s criminal indictments would be a problem and assured the former president that a potentially disqualifying internal House GOP rule could be easily smoothed over.

Trump, who was busy at his civil fraud trial in Manhattan this week, was noncommittal. But as the idea took off among the MAGA base, Trump began to see the idea as a fortuitous distraction from the constant barrage of headlines about his legal woes, according to one Trump ally in Congress.

The flirtations culminated in a Thursday afternoon interview with Fox News, where Trump not only confirmed his willingness to serve as speaker for a “short period” but said he would come to Washington next week to attend the House GOP’s election.

The story triggered panic among House Republicans. It wasn’t that anyone seriously thought he’d win the 218 votes to be elected. In fact, most who were familiar with the conference’s internal dynamics believed he couldn’t even get the conference nomination, requiring a simple majority of Republicans.

Centrist Republicans running in Biden districts were dreading the prospect of being tied to Trump as speaker. And even traditional and conservative Republicans were not happy about the idea of reporters peppering them with questions about whether they think Trump should lead the House.

Moreover, many Republicans believed that Trump’s foray into the fight was going to only prolong the power vacuum ahead of another government shutdown fight.

That’s when Trump’s more senior allies stepped up, according to people familiar with the backroom maneuvering who spoke on the condition of anonymity. They argued to Trump that his pursuit of the speaker’s gavel would backfire.

Not only would he lose to Scalise or Jordan, they told him but that he could receive just a handful of votes since the nomination process is done by secret ballot — meaning Republicans were free to vote their conscience without MAGA blowback. In fact, they warned, Trump might not even be admitted to the closed-door election, which are typically held in “executive session” where outsiders and even most staff are kicked out of the room.

They also told his inner circle that the tallies are publicly released, meaning Trump could be embarrassed by a poor showing. They encouraged him to play kingmaker in the race and focus on the 2024 president race instead.

Trump took the advice and began a carefully choreographed backtrack. The pivot was first publicly teased last night by Sean Hannity, moments before interviewing Jordan on Fox News, and Trump made it official a few hours later on Truth Social.

Nehls said tried to talk Trump into it one more time last night: “I said, ‘You know, you made America great again. You can come in and make Congress great again.’”

He still thinks Trump could end up as speaker if there’s a deadlock.

I see Trump is still easily talked into bad ideas.

[Highlord Laan]

Lots of Republican caused chaos. Hopefully people remember they caused it when it comes to the election.

The only thing republicans remember is the last trump poster that went past their fish bowls.

[bilateralrope]

Centrist GOP effort to reinstate McCarthy picks up steam after Israel attacks

Reinstalling the Californian, the thinking goes, is the only way to quickly deliver aid to Israel.

By MEREDITH LEE HILL and KATHERINE TULLY-MCMANUS
10/07/2023 10:02 PM EDT

The attacks in Israel and demand for U.S. aid are injecting new urgency into recent talks among centrist House Republicans to attempt to reinstate Kevin McCarthy as House speaker, with scores of Republican lawmakers now discussing the effort.

Calls and texts among GOP members picked up dramatically after news of the attacks reached the U.S. overnight Friday. The message, per one House Republican lawmaker involved in the long-shot effort: “We need to bring back Kevin, immediately.”

Lawmakers are concerned that another drawn out speakership battle will delay action to aid Israel after attacks that sent America’s closest Middle East ally into a state of war. That’s time, these Republicans say, that they don’t have during a major emergency.

“A short window is all we need in the House to reinstate Kevin McCarthy and change the rule,” Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.) told POLITICO.

Duarte also said he thought the Biden administration’s positions and “our disarray in the House,” were factors in the timing of the attacks.

“Israel attacks have moderates holding out for the one person who can truly unite us: Kevin McCarthy,” according to a third House GOP lawmaker.

McCarthy is “aware and grateful” of the growing effort to reinstate him, but he’s not engaging at this point, this lawmaker added.

The attempt to reinstall McCarthy faces long odds. Two strong candidates are running active campaigns with only days to go before voting, and many dozens of Republicans have already made endorsements. There is little reason to think the basic math for McCarthy has changed for McCarthy since last Tuesday.

Republicans behind the push, however, believe the urgency to address the terror attacks and aid Israel could pressure the eight House Republicans who voted against McCarthy earlier this week to switch their stance. The third House GOP lawmaker said the members behind the push are still livid at the Republicans who voted against McCarthy, a staunch Israel supporter, and are “using this moment to show how wrong they were.”

McCarthy played an active role in the House GOP response to the attacks Saturday, railing against the Biden administration’s actions and noting the House is currently unable to move major legislation without a speaker.

“There is nothing the House can do until they elect a speaker, and I don’t know if that happens quickly,” McCarthy told Fox News.

Lawmakers are also are looking into outlining more clear powers for acting speaker Patrick McHenry in the short-term or possibly by electing him speaker outright.

The House could take other actions to get around McHenry’s restrained role, including voting him in as a speaker pro tempore, thus shedding his acting title to give him more authority while Republicans figure out who they want to lead them. If McHenry attempts to act, on Israel legislation or any other, without broader authority from the House, he risks being challenged on the floor and votes to overturn his actions.

The push for McCarthy or McHenry are more palatable options for many vulnerable Republicans, especially those in Biden districts, who are not closely aligned with either of the current candidates Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

A major complicating factor is that both Democrats and Republicans in the House have made clear that they are interpreting McHenry’s role in its narrowest form, which at this point would limit him from bringing legislation to the floor before a speaker is elected.

There is no precedent for how broadly McHenry can exert powers within the House, and that has driven some Republicans to explore other paths to move legislation to bolster Israel in the coming days or weeks.

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) said Saturday that she will introduce legislation to supplement funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system and is urging Republicans and Democrats to “quickly bring this bill to the floor.”

“Our disunity in Capitol Hill is weakening America’s position as a global leader and hindering our ability to respond to atrocities committed by Hamas on the Israeli people,” Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.) said Saturday. “We must stop these political games and show leadership during this international emergency.”

But that — as seen in January — is not a swift process. House Republicans are expected to host a candidate forum on Tuesday and hold a closed door, secret ballot internal election on Wednesday. With neither candidate close to the 218 votes needed to clinch the gavel, it is not yet clear when it could reach the floor for a final vote.

Other House Republicans have called for McHenry and House GOP conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to move up the speaker election that’s slated to begin next Wednesday.

“We need to have a forum Sunday or Monday,” Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) posted on X Saturday.

“We are paralyzed as a body,” Alford added. “World events dictate urgency.”

Looks like this chaos will be more damaging that I expected.

[Tribble]

I wonder how much rank and file Republicans actually want to burn the whole thing down, and how much they feel like they’re being held hostage by the extreme elements in their base?

And How many Republican voters really want to burn the whole thing down? Is it a lot? Or are most simply voting because Red is their team jersey and they don’t really think about the issues?

[Ralin]

I wonder how much rank and file Republicans actually want to burn the whole thing down, and how much they feel like they’re being held hostage by the extreme elements in their base?

And How many Republican voters really want to burn the whole thing down? Is it a lot? Or are most simply voting because Red is their team jersey and they don’t really think about the issues?

Yes.

[Tribble]

I wonder how much rank and file Republicans actually want to burn the whole thing down, and how much they feel like they’re being held hostage by the extreme elements in their base?

And How many Republican voters really want to burn the whole thing down? Is it a lot? Or are most simply voting because Red is their team jersey and they don’t really think about the issues?

Yes.

So both then?

[Highlord Laan]

I wonder how much rank and file Republicans actually want to burn the whole thing down, and how much they feel like they’re being held hostage by the extreme elements in their base?

And How many Republican voters really want to burn the whole thing down? Is it a lot? Or are most simply voting because Red is their team jersey and they don’t really think about the issues?

Bold of you to think republicans are even capable of thinking.

[bilateralrope]

Ousting McCarthy will have been worth it, Gaetz says, even if it costs him his job

“The voters of Florida’s First Congressional District sent me here with about 70% of the vote,” Gaetz said Sunday.

By KELLY GARRITY
10/08/2023 11:35 AM EDT

Even if he loses his job because of it, ousting Kevin McCarthy will “absolutely” have been worth it Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said Sunday.

“The voters of Florida’s First Congressional District sent me here with about 70% of the vote. So I think that anyone trying to kick me out of Congress because they didn’t like me would have a bone to pick with them,” Gaetz said Sunday during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” calling the calls from some members of his caucus to expel him “crazy.”

In a historic move, Gaetz filed a motion to vacate against then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week, leading to the California Republican’s removal, and leaving the House without an official leader.

“If you lose your job will it be worth it?” host Kristin Welker asked Sunday.

“Absolutely,” Gaetz said. “Look, I am here to fight for my constituents. And I’m here to ensure that America is not on a path to financial ruin.”

Members of Gaetz’s own party have been overwhelmingly critical of the Republican hardliner’s decision to move against McCarthy. Gaetz was joined in voting against McCarthy by seven Republicans: Arizona’s Andy Biggs, Colorado’s Ken Buck, Tennessee’s Tim Burchett, Arizona’s Eli Crane, Virginia’s Bob Good, South Carolina’s Nancy Mace and Montana’s Matt Rosendale.

All the gridlock caused by the lack of a speaker, all the damage that the looming shutdown causes. The inability for the Republicans to get anything done. He thinks that will all be worth it for kicking out someone who was willing to compromise to keep the lights on.

I doubt he's the only one.

[Broomstick]

...and that is why we can't have nice things.

Like a functional government.

[bilateralrope]

McCarthy loyalists vow to draw out painful speakership battle

House Republicans' state of emotional limbo is particularly problematic, since they'd otherwise welcome the chance to move quickly on aiding Israel.

MEREDITH LEE HILL

10/10/2023, 11:32AM ET

A bloc of Kevin McCarthy's most vocal GOP supporters, many of them centrists, are vowing to nominate the former speaker to return to the job and support him for as long as they can.

Three House Republicans involved in the effort to return the gavel to McCarthy — which is flaring up just a week after his historic ejection — say they expect dozens of colleagues to initially vote for the Californian during this week's internal conference debate over speaker candidates.

Their plans depend on whether McCarthy is nominated, as expected, and may prevent either of the declared candidates to replace him — Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio — from garnering a majority on the first ballot.

After POLITICO's initial report published, McCarthy publicly asked supporters not to nominate him. Several GOP members involved in the effort, however, have said they received no direction to stand down.

Some have back-channeled through Reps. Garret Graves (R-La.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), two close McCarthy allies, as they push for his reinstatement as speaker.

“I believe that Kevin McCarthy will allow himself to be put on the ballot,” said Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.), who is among the pro-McCarthy stalwarts.

Republican lawmakers are scheduled to meet Tuesday evening for another forum on the internal speakership election that's expected to take place on Wednesday, though neither Scalise nor Jordan has the votes to win the speakership on the House floor — and, importantly, McCarthy does not have the votes he'd need either. That emotional limbo is particularly problematic for House Republicans who would otherwise welcome the chance to move quickly on helping Israel beat back weekend attacks by Hamas.

While the conference remains polarized, Duarte joined GOP Reps. Carlos Gimenez and John Rutherford of Florida in making their plans clear during a closed-door House GOP conference meeting Monday night, according to three GOP lawmakers.

Rutherford warned his fellow Republicans that he was prepared to keep voting for McCarthy over and over, suggesting that the former speaker’s still livid supporters are ready to hold out for some time in order to undercut the other candidates.

Some centrist House Republicans have raised concerns about electing Jordan, an original cofounder of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, as speaker. But McCarthy supporters are especially wary of Scalise, a longtime rival of the former speaker, taking over the conference.

“It is clear McCarthy supporters feel Scalise undermined him and left him when he needed his help,” said one centrist House Republican who was granted anonymity to discuss internal conference dynamics.

But supporters of the long-shot effort to reinstall McCarthy as speaker also know that no candidate, including their preferred choice, can win the job at this point.

“I’d be surprised if we end up with either [Scalise or Jordan],” said the centrist House Republican lawmaker. “Both have a ceiling. But I’d say Jordan now has a clearer path — not clear, but clearer.”

Are there any Republicans who are trying to have a functioning government ?

[LadyTevar]

McCarthy loyalists vow to draw out painful speakership battle


Are there any Republicans who are trying to have a functioning government ?

Right now? I highly doubt it. They're too busy putting their own egos and self above everyone else.

Still... Yeah... Put McCarty Back. Why Not. He's better than the other two idjits.

[Gandalf]

No point putting McCarthy back. He's far right scum who can't command the party.

[Broomstick]

If the Republicans can't agree on another Speaker we might have to - we can't have the government paralyzed until the next big election in November 2024. But I doubt they'd agree to have McCarthy back. It's a complete, ridiculous, and embarrassing shit-show.

A pox on all of them.

[Zwinmar]

Need to put these idiots in a squadbay and lock the doors and take away their phones while serving only bread and water until they can sort everything out.

[Jub]

Need to put these idiots in a squadbay and lock the doors and take away their phones while serving only bread and water until they can sort everything out.

Don't just stop at the speaker either, keep both houses locked up until they can agree to actually work together.

[Gandalf]

Don't just stop at the speaker either, keep both houses locked up until they can agree to actually work together.

That won't work for a long as the system encourages obstructionism. Gaetz is answerable to his home electorate, so if they have no problem with his actions, then he has no incentive to change.

[Rogue 9]

And they've nominated Steve "David Duke without the baggage" Scalise.

[Broomstick]

Yeah, but he can't afford to lose more than 4 Republican votes and last I heard 10 of his own party has sworn to NOT vote for him.

'scuze me, I have to go back to work on my Zombie Apocalypse bunker....

[Batman]

It looks more and more like the republitards are trying to BRING ABOUT a zombie apocalypse scenario because there's no way people will accept their insane ideas in a normal world and there's a zero in infinity chance they'll ever get a majority again.

[Solauren]

It looks more and more like the republitards are trying to BRING ABOUT a zombie apocalypse scenario because there's no way people will accept their insane ideas in a normal world and there's a zero in infinity chance they'll ever get a majority again.

I think you're giving them a little too much credit. A Zombie apocalypse would require more imagination then they're capable of.

More like they want to make Idiocracy a prophecy, so people are stupid enough to vote for them, and to believe anything they say.

[Batman]

I meant in the sense of a general armageddon scenario, so people'd think 'the republicans are better than THIS', hoping that people wouid conveniently forget it was the Republicans who BROUGHT ABOUT armageddon.

[Rogue 9]

Them never getting a majority again is wildly optimistic with how gerrymandered most of the states are. They don't need a nationwide electoral majority to control the chamber.

[LadyTevar]

Well... they agreed on a candidate...

Steve Scalise scrambles for Votes

Republicans have narrowly backed Steve Scalise to be the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, but it is unclear if he has enough support to win an overall majority in the chamber.

He defeated hardliner Jim Jordan in a private vote on Wednesday.

Mr Scalise, 58, must now work to unite the divided Republicans and secure their backing in a full House vote.
Republicans hold a slim majority, meaning he can only afford to lose the support of five party members.

It is unclear when the House will be convened for the vote, but Republican representatives are set to meet later on Thursday. A simple majority, 217, is required for Mr Scalise to win the job.
If he were to achieve that, he would become Speaker and end days of paralysis in the lower chamber of Congress, which began when Kevin McCarthy was ousted by hardliners in his own Republican Party.

With no elected Speaker in place, the House finds itself leaderless at a critical time. It is unable to pass any bills or approve White House requests for emergency aid, such as for Israel following the weekend attacks by Hamas, and it must also pass a spending bill in the coming weeks to avoid a government shutdown.

The Republican Party, however, has been plagued by infighting and for days now has seemed unable to reach an agreement on Mr McCarthy's replacement.
Among those still opposing him is Kentucky's Thomas Massie, who told reporters that he is a "hard no", at least in the initial vote, because of disagreements with Mr Scalise on how the budget should be handled.
Mr Massie added that he believed at least 20 other Republicans would also vote against Mr Scalise, significantly more than the five votes he could afford to lose.

Several other Republican representatives, including Colorado's Lauren Boebert, Georgia's Marjorie Taylor Greene and Florida's Anna Paulina Luna, have said they do not intend to vote for Mr Scalise.
Texas Congressman Chip Roy has said he too he is a "hard no" for now because the vote was "rushed" to the floor.
"There are a number of votes that are very much in question for Steve," he said. "I don't think it's a good idea for us to be barrelling towards the floor."
"When we go to the floor, there'll be at least a relatively high expectation on the part of Steve Scalise and his team that he's got the votes," Representative John Duarte, a supporter of Mr Scalise, said on Thursday.

Mr Scalise is the more traditional candidate in this race. He worked his way up through the party's leadership, built a reputation as a formidable fundraiser and tried to build connections to the party's full range of interest groups and constituencies.
Speaking to reporters after the private vote, he said filling the Speaker role was vital in an increasingly "dangerous world".
"We need to make sure we're sending a message... that the House is open," he said.

The slim margin of Mr Scalise's victory in the closed-door meeting on Wednesday - 113 votes to 99 - highlights the deep divisions within the party, and some lawmakers have expressed scepticism that, even now, he has the votes necessary to secure the position.

Jim Jordan was the outsider, who rose to fame with conservative television appearances, bombastic rhetoric and confrontational speeches in committee hearings.
Mr Jordan was also endorsed by Mr Trump, which in the end was not enough to put him over the top.
One of the anti-Scalise Republicans, Texas' Troy Nehls, cited the former president's endorsement as a reason he still planned to vote for Mr Jordan.
"That's what Donald Trump wanted," he said.

Mr Scalise's victory suggests that, when the doors are closed and the ballots are secret, the former president's influence within the party - at least in the House of Representatives - is not as strong as his polling popularity might indicate.