Just hours after earning the nomination to be Speaker of the House, Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) abandoned his candidacy in the latest move to backfire in the face of the GOP.
Emmer was nominated by Republican representatives earlier Tuesday. However, after seeing that he could not generate enough support to win the speakership, Emmer became the third Republican to pull out of the race since former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was voted out Oct. 3.
The nominee needs at least 217 votes to be elected Speaker of the House. That means the candidate can’t afford to lose more than four votes of the 221 GOP representatives, assuming that no Democrats would vote for the Republican nominee.
Representative Jim Jordan, a far-right Republican from Ohio and an ally of former President Donald Trump, dropped out of the race Friday after having his name rejected three times in floor votes. Before him, Steve Scalise of Louisiana withdrew his candidacy even before facing the full House vote.
The House has been without a permanent speaker since Oct. 3 when McCarthy was ousted. Far-right members of the GOP were angry with him for passing a bipartisan bill that temporarily averted a government shutdown. Since then, Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina has been serving as the interim speaker.
In the meantime, legislative action in the House is paralyzed. The election of a permanent speaker is needed for Congress to address urgent issues.
President Joe Biden asked last week for the approval of a $106 billion national security package that includes aid to Israel, Ukraine, as well as humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The new speaker will also have to discuss a solution to fund the government after Nov. 17 when the stopgap measure that avoided a shutdown will expire.
