Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise was elected this Wednesday by a majority of Republicans to run for president of the House of Representativesa position that has been vacant since last Tuesday after a ultra rebellion managed to remove the ‘speaker’, Kevin McCarthy, and left Congress paralyzed. When will this paralysis end, however, he continues to be surrounded by uncertainties due to the persistent and deep republican divisions and although he initially planned to celebrate the election in the plenary session of the House This Wednesday, it was finally decided postpone it.
In the secret and closed-door vote of the Republicans this Wednesday Scalise, who came to Congress in 2008 and since January was the number 2 of the conservatives in the Lower House, has achieved 113 votes in favor and 99 against. The candidacy of the 58-year-old congressman, who was injured in 2017 but survived in a shooting by an anti-Trump extremist and since August he has been undergoing chemotherapy to treat a blood cancer, has prevailed over Jim Jordan’s, the representative of extreme right who founded the ultra Freedom Caucus, chairs the Judiciary Committee and He had the support of Donald Trump. Both Scalise and Jordan They voted against the certification of the election results legitimate of 2020 that declared winner Joe Biden.
That Scalise result represents just two more votes than the simple majority he needed within the Republican conference to win the nomination. And he exposed his big challenge: guarantee that, once the vote is taken in the plenary session, where the election depends on both Republicans and Democrats, it achieves the 217 votes needed if all the congressmen of the two formations vote.
Uncertainty
Although some Republicans had tried to make it necessary to obtain that figure of 217 already in the conference in order to achieve the nomination, seeking on paper to avoid the public display of the votes again. divisions that made the party blush in January, when McCarthy had to undergo 15 rounds of floor voting to get elected, his amendment to the rules has been rejected. And that’s why he was once again in uncertainty.
Some of the congressmen who wanted Jordan as a nominee, they have not guaranteed that they will support Scalise in the vote, something that Jordan himself has not initially done either, although after a meeting with the nominee he has offered to make the introductory speech to him when the time of the election arrives. That gesture may help convince some of his allies.
That, in any case, still does not guarantee sufficient support for the nominee. Some openly criticized the attempt to hold the election in an accelerated manner. Although several of the most ultra representatives announced that they would vote for Scalise, others such as Marjorie Taylor Greene announced their intention not to do so. And allies of McCarthy, with whom Scalise has had a professional but also icy relationship, remain outraged by the Californian’s dismissal and want him to be president again. Since Scalise can only afford to lose four votes in his caucus, another term of office was opened. frenetic negotiations among conservatives.
Scalise’s priorities
In his first words to the press, Scalise has ignored the complexity of his own situation. He has preferred to focus on the conservative agenda that he promises to promote from the position for which he is now the nominee, and in the importance of the election. “We need to ensure that we send a message to people around the world that the House of Representatives is open and functioning.”
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Scalise has also assured that his first action if he takes office will be to promote a resolution reaffirming commitment to Israel. In addition, he has assured that he wants to hold a meeting on security in the border with President Biden, after whom he would occupy second place in the line of succession if elected. Unlike Jordan, he has shown himself in favor of continuing to give aid to Ukraine.
In the brief appearance, without accepting questions, Scalise spoke about the budget situation, review in the US. Although an extension was approved with bipartisan support that has allowed the government to remain operational (the action that the rebels against McCarthy used as a reason to remove him from office), that rule only guarantees funds until November 17. And it will be necessary to vote on another extension or achieve approval of the 12 individual budget laws, something that is complicated with the control of the divided Congress. Republicans have already approved three of these regulations in the Lower House, but they have no option in the Senate controlled by Democrats as they include strong spending cuts that were not agreed upon when the two parties also reached an agreement to suspend the debt ceiling. . .