House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan failed to get enough votes to become the Speaker of the House for the second consecutive day. He had more members of the House vote against him the second time around.
This marks the second week that the House has been without a Speaker.
With a deadline to craft and pass a spending bill to keep the federal government from shutting down coming up on November 17, an effort to empower Interim Speaker Patrick McHenry is gaining steam.
McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, was chosen by ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to serve as speaker pro tempore. His powers are currently limited to overseeing the election for the next speaker.
Due to those limits, the House is effectively locked in a legislative stalemate without a speaker who can call for votes to be held on legislation.
Since the House currently seems incapable of voting for a speaker, Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania put forward a resolution to elect McHenry as speaker pro tempore, expanding his limited powers.
Last night, I introduced a resolution that would allow the House of Representatives to hold a formal election of the Honorable Patrick McHenry (R-NC) as Speaker Pro Tempore.