Month: October 2023

Rep. Jim Jordan once again failed to secure enough votes on Wednesday to become House speaker, leaving the lower chamber without a leader to replace the recently-ousted Kevin McCarthy. After Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry declared “a speaker has not been elected,” he called the House into recess for an indefinite period.

22 Republicans voted against Jordan, who garnered a total of 199 votes. Compared to Tuesday’s first ballot, four more Republicans voted against him — and he picked up two Republicans, Reps. Doug LaMalfa of California and Victoria Spartz of Virginia.  GOP Reps. Kay Granger of Texas and Jen Kiggans of Virginia were among the Republicans who voted for someone other than Jordan during the two rounds of voting, but each said the pressure campaign being mounted by Jordan’s allies will not sway them. Granger, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, cast both of her votes for Steven Scalise: “Steve Scalise is an honorable man and has earned my vote for Speaker. This was a vote of conscience and I stayed true to my principles. Intimidation and threats will not change my position.”  Kiggans wrote on social media that “threats and intimidation tactics will not change my principles and values,” and expressed support for Kevin McCarthy on the first two ballots.

Some Republicans indicated they want the lower chamber to increase the power of Rep. Patrick McHenry, the speaker pro tempore, but that would also likely require support from House Democrats, with some saying they favor a vote to expand his authority to allow for consideration of a limited legislative agenda. Asked about a proposal to expand McHenry’s powers as speaker pro tempore, Jordan said “at some point, that question should be called,” but added that doing so will be up to McHenry as the interim speaker.

Jordan told reporters following the vote that he plans to remain in the race for speaker: “Speaker McCarthy, he had a two-month runway from when he got the conference nomination and when we got to that first week in January, so we’re right where he was in his numbers. We got 200 votes. You know, we picked up some today, a couple dropped off but they voted for me before, I think they can come back again. So we’ll keep talking to members, we’ll keep working on it.” Asked whether he is staying in the race, Jordan replied, “Yep,” but added that he is unsure whether the Republican conference will gather for a meeting, and that he plans to meet members individually.

Of the 22 Republican lawmakers who cast their votes for someone other than Jordan, Scalise received seven votes, McCarthy received five votes, and Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida, Tom Emmer of Minnesota, Mike Garcia of California, Kay Granger of Texas and Bruce Westerman of Arkansas all had one vote apiece in their name. Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman, received three votes, while former Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and former Rep. Candice Miller of Michigan each received one vote.

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On Wednesday during his trip to Tel Aviv, President Joe Biden pledged his support for Israel, and expressed agreement with Israel that their military was not responsible for the deadly blast at a Christian-run hospital in Gaza City that is estimated to have killed hundreds.

Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike for the disaster at the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital, which Gaza health officials said killed 500 people. However on Wednesday morning, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) published evidence that it claimed showed that a failed rocket launch from inside the enclave was to blame, with Biden saying U.S. intelligence led him to believe Israel was not at fault. Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden said: “based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” later adding that he’d drawn that conclusion based on “the data I was shown by my Defense Department.” Biden said in a second speech later that day: “Like the entire world, I was outraged and saddened by the enormous loss of life yesterday in the hospital in Gaza,” and reiterated that the blast “appears the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza. The United States unequivocally stands for the protection of civilian life during conflict.” Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council, elaborated on X (Twitter) that the assessment was based on “analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information.”  According to two senior U.S. officials, the U.S. has an independent assessment that it was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad group rocket that misfired and hit the hospital in Gaza.

Mustafa Barghouti, leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, later slammed Biden for siding with Israel’s version of events, telling CNN: “Biden cares only about one thing, which is to be re-elected, and that’s why he’s taking the side of Israel. He’s believing Israeli lies like the lie of decapitation of children, which was never verified, or the lie of raping women, which was never verified and they continue—now this lie that Palestinians killed themselves.”

Biden also announced $100 million in new U.S. funding for humanitarian aid in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and stressed his support for Israel amid its ongoing war with Hamas: “State of Israel was born to be a safe place for the Jewish people in the world. Long said, if Israel didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it. While it may not feel that way today, Israel must again be a safe place for the Jewish people. I promise you, we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure there will be.”

The president also acknowledged that Palestinian people are suffering as well, and that he mourns the loss of “innocent Palestinian lives like the entire world … The vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas. Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. Hamas uses innocent families in Gaza as human shields, putting their command centers or weapons or communications tunnels in residential areas.”

Biden landed in Tel Aviv on Wednesday to demonstrate U.S. solidarity with Israel; he was greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the tarmac at Ben Gurion International Airport, where the two leaders shook hands and embraced. Biden initially planned to meet with Arab leaders at a summit hosted by Jordan’s King Abdullah in Amman, but the event was canceled following the explosion.

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GOP Rep. Jim Jordan fell short in the first round of voting for House Speaker on Tuesday, leaving the lower chamber without a leader for at least another day after failing to secure the support needed. In a statement Monday, Jordan said he desired to “bring all Republicans together … our goal will be to empower our committees and committee chairs to take the lead on the House’s legislative work through regular order. This will bring us together to pass responsible legislation to fund our government and support our military.”

Jordan lost the support of 20 of his fellow Republicans in Tuesday’s election, winning just 200 votes and falling short of the 217 needed to prevail. Six Republicans voted for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted on Oct. 3. Several others voted for Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who withdrew his name from consideration last week, and former Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Trump ally who didn’t run for reelection in 2022 when he ran for governor in New York. Democrats nominated Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who received 212 votes.

Jordan won an internal GOP contest for the nomination after House Majority Leader Steve Scalise bowed out of the race, but he faces an uphill battle in securing the 217 votes needed to win the gavel. Jordan told reporters at the Capitol that the next vote would take place Wednesday morning around 11 a.m. and said he had “good discussions” with his Republican colleagues: “We’re going to keep working, and we’re going to get to the votes.” Jordan said earlier that voting would continue “until we get a speaker,” and had hoped to wrap up the process by the end of the day to avoid a marathon of votes like those required to elect McCarthy in January, which took 15 rounds of voting over four days before he was finally elected.

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President Mahmoud Abbas has canceled his meeting scheduled Wednesday with President Joe Biden and other Mideast leaders in protest an alleged Israeli airstrike on a hospital in Gaza that Hamas health officials say has killed over 500 people. Abbas was scheduled to join Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi at Wednesday’s summit in Amman, Jordan, where they are to discuss the latest Israel-Hamas war with Biden.

The hospital attack comes just one  day before President Joe Biden was due to visit the region to show support for Israel and try to prevent the war from spreading. Several hospitals in Gaza City have become refuges for hundreds of people, hoping they would be spared after Israel ordered all residents of the city and surrounding areas to evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, said an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday hit a Gaza City hospital filled with wounded and other Palestinians seeking shelter, killing an estimated 500. If confirmed, the attack would be by far the deadliest Israeli airstrike in five wars fought since 2008. Ambulances and private cars rushed some 350 casualties from the al-Ahli blast to Gaza City’s main hospital, al-Shifa, already overwhelmed with wounded from other strikes, said its director, Mohammed Abu Selmia.

However, Israeli military said the hospital was hit by a rocket misfired by Palestinian militants, saying they had fired a barrage of rockets near the hospital at the time. “Intelligence from multiple sources we have in our hands indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch,” it said. Hamas called Tuesday’s hospital strike “a horrific massacre”, saying in a statement that most of the casualties were displaced families, patients, children and women. Israeli airstrikes killed dozens of civilians in the south, and at least one senior Hamas figure Tuesday.

U.S. officials have worked to convince Israel to allow delivery of supplies to desperate civilians, aid groups and hospitals after Israel barred entry of water, fuel and food into Gaza since Hamas’ brutal attack last week. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken secured an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss creation of a mechanism for delivering aid to the territory’s 2.3 million people. A top Israeli official said Tuesday that Israel was demanding guarantees that Hamas militants would not seize any aid deliveries. Tzahi Hanegbi, head of Israel’s National Security Council, suggested entry of aid also depended on the return of hostages held by Hamas:  “The return of the hostages, which is sacred in our eyes, is a key component in any humanitarian efforts.”

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