The Daily Populous Thursday October 19th, 2023 day edition
Authored by salon.com and submitted by devlinadl

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, lost his second bid for the role of House speaker on Wednesday, leaving the House without a leader after two weeks of prolonged bickering. "Jordan set a modern record: lowest vote tally for majority's nominee to be speaker," tweeted Washington Post congressional reporter Paul Kane, shortly after the loss was announced. "Just 199 Republicans voted for him on second ballot. No majority nominee has received less than 200 votes in a really long time. (McCarthy's lowest tally was 200, a couple times in Jan.)"

Twenty-two Republicans voted against Jordan on Wednesday, two more than voted against him on Tuesday. “We picked up some today, a couple dropped off,” said Jordan after the vote, undeterred to remain in contention for the seat. “We’ll keep talking to members, keep working on it.” Jordan and his team have faced internal scrutiny from Republicans for embarking on a pressure campaign rife with bullying tactics, a strategy which seemingly worked against him by fomenting deep discontent. "I personally think, if we go to a third vote, it's going to get a lot worse," Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., told Politico. "Around three is probably going to be the final straw."

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., meanwhile, sought to blame Democrats for the Republican dysfunction. “There is no chance in the world that Democrats can say again that they put people before politics. They made a political decision to try to bring chaos to shut down a branch of government. And that’s wrong,” said McCarthy, who agreed to allow any single Republican member to force a vote to oust him in order to become speaker, which is exactly what happened just nine months later.

UsedToLoveMitch on October 18th, 2023 at 20:17 UTC »

You have the majority. Why is it incumbent on us to get your house in order?

Spare_Substance5003 on October 18th, 2023 at 20:13 UTC »

No more votes today. Are they only doing 1 vote per day? The 1.5 hours of work is tiring everyone out?

Responsible-Still839 on October 18th, 2023 at 20:06 UTC »

The fact that McCarthy is still trying to pin blame for this travesty on Democrats is just pure and utter insanity.