GOP moves closer to electing Rep. Scalise as next House speaker

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• Geoff Bennett:

  House Republicans are one step closer to selecting a new speaker. They have nominated House Majority Leader Steve Scalise for the role, but not all members are on board. And it's not yet clear if he has the votes to win on the floor of the House.

  Capitol Hill correspondent Lisa Desjardins reports on the busy day at the U.S. Capitol.

  For the GOP, one decision made.

• Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA):

  First, I want to thank my House Republican colleagues.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is the Republican Conference's nominee for speaker. His win was narrow, just 14 votes more than his challenger, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan.

  Scalise immediately took on the posture of speaker, telling reporters he would act quickly on aid to Israel.

• Rep. Steve Scalise:

  We need to make sure we're sending a message to people all throughout the world that the House is open and doing the people's business.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  But he is not speaker yet, and this could get complicated.

• Rep. Max Miller (R-OH):

  Well, Leader Scalise won, and it's not over. I'm still throwing my support behind Jim Jordan for speaker. I'm not going to change my vote now or anytime soon on the House floor.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Ohio's Max Miller was among those leaving the vote and refusing to back or unsure about Scalise. That opens the door to a repeat of what happened in January, vote after vote on the House floor where a candidate fell just a few votes short of a majority.

  It's on members' minds.

• Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX):

  We can't afford this dysfunction in the nation.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  And some Jordan backers agreed immediately, like Texas' Keith Self, part of the rebellion against Speaker McCarthy, but not this time.

• Rep. Keith Self (R-TX):

  We need to get back to work, and I think we took the vote, and Steve Scalise is our nominee, and I will vote for Steve Scalise on the floor.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  And this from McCarthy's loudest opponent, Matt Gaetz of Florida.

• Rep. Matt Gaetz:

  Long live Speaker Scalise.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Within hours, Jordan told Scalise he would support him.

  But there are still some who refuse, saying GOP voters want Jordan. It is the latest test for Scalise. He's been in leadership for nearly a decade, but is known as a survivor, recovering from nearly fatal wounds after a gunman attacked Republicans at a baseball practice in 2017. In August, Scalise announced he was diagnosed with blood cancer. He's currently undergoing treatment.

  He campaigned as a unifier, and his allies and many Republicans want this resolved as soon as possible.

• Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA):

  I'm so hopeful that we will unite quickly. The world is depending on us, our country is depending on us to be able to get back to work, to go do our jobs that my constituents sent me here to do. And I know the rest of the country is eager for us to do that as well, so I'm excited to get back to work.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  But as I speak to you now, Geoff, it is not clear when the House will get back to work.

  Just a short time ago, Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry left the Capitol. He was asked if he's gone for the rest of the night. And he said cryptically, "Not necessarily." Just not clear what's going to happen.

• Geoff Bennett:

  So, Lisa, then where do the vote and the potential Scalise speakership stand at the moment?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  OK, let's break this down.

  Right now, we are waiting to see if Steve Scalise can clinch that majority that he needs in the full House. Let's talk a little bit. Let's look at the numbers specifically. To get the majority in the House of Representatives right now with two vacancies, you need somewhere between 215 and 217 votes.

  That's including absences, which we usually do have a few of. Now, who — Scalise got 113 votes in conference today, but here's something important about that number. That included the votes from three delegates from U.S. territories. They can vote in the Republican Conference. They cannot vote on the floor of the House.

  So, when you add it all up, Geoff, where we are for Mr. Scalise is that he actually did not get a majority of the members of his conference who can vote. And he is far way away from being sure that he has the majority of the House itself.

  I think the more important number probably, though, is the number that we are getting of people who say they will not vote for him on the first ballot. It is beginning to be a larger group. I think producer Kyle Midura and I have counted five or six. Other people say it's as high as 20.

  And we — as we know, Mr. Scalise can only lose four votes from Republicans and actually become speaker. Right now, he certainly has more than that who say they will not vote for him.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Well, let's talk more about the majority leader, Steve Scalise. Where does he stand on the issues? What would it actually mean if he were to be elected and serve as House speaker?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Steve Scalise, if elected, would be the first House speaker from Louisiana.

  He is a conservative. He is someone who is known as affable. His style is friendly. And even with reporters, he's generally not confrontational. But we want to talk a little bit about where he believes — what he believes on major issues.

  So, start right with Ukraine. That was a big difference between him and Jim Jordan. He has generally supported aid for Ukraine, including a vote very recently. How about abortion? He is someone who gets high marks from anti-abortion groups. He wants more limits. But, in recent years, since the Dobbs decision, he has not been clear on whether he wants Congress to pass a national ban or not.

  He says it depends on the votes that are present. Now, on immigration, he is someone who talks a lot about building a border wall. He is someone who has said in the past he would like to end birthright citizenship. And then, finally, on the 2020 election, he is someone who was in Republican leadership at that time.

  He voted to object to certifying the election. He did that twice, both of those votes after the January 6 riots hit the Capitol and affected him personally. And that is how he voted on those.

• Geoff Bennett:

  So the group that objected to Kevin McCarthy being House speaker, are they the same group that's now objecting to Steve Scalise? What's the overlap look like?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Right.

  I have been texting with many members, Democrats and Republicans, who are amazed that actually, no, these are some different members, some overlap. They all have different reasons for their problems with Steve Scalise.

  One, Thomas Massie has said that he thinks Mr. Scalise does not have a plan for dealing with the upcoming spending problems. There are others who have issues with different parts of his past, Nancy Mace of South Carolina concerned about a speech that Scalise gave in 2002 to a white nationalist group. Scalise has since disavowed that speech, says he regretted it.

  But there is a range of problems that these folks have. Some of them just say the party is in disarray. So this leads to the problem of whoever becomes the next speaker, that it seems we have a Pandora's box open here, Geoff, where for any kind of test of leadership, there will be a handful of Republicans who have an issue, specific or not.

• Geoff Bennett:

  It also seems like we learned from one government funding deadline to another. The next one's on November 17.

  What does all of this mean for this next cliff?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Well, whether they want to admit it or not, it seems clear that we need a temporary funding bill. It's just a question of if Scalise, if speaker, could get one through.

  We now know that, with 10-year Treasury bond rates going up, interest rates going up, the national debt is going up. That concern is really prominent among House Republicans, and there is some concern over whether Scalise can guide them through this or not coming up.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Lisa Desjardins reporting on another busy day at the U.S. Capitol.

  Lisa, thank you.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  You're welcome.

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