Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is forging ahead with his bid to become House speaker and suggested he intends to hold votes this weekend if he does not win on Friday.<\/p>\n
Jordan\u2019s office announced a Friday morning press conference late on Thursday night. House lawmakers are expected to hold a third round speaker vote later Friday morning after Jordan failed to clinch a majority of the chamber in two rounds of voting this week.<\/p>\n
\u2018Our plan this weekend is to get a speaker elected to the House of Representatives soon as possible, so we can help the American people,\u2019 Jordan told reporters.<\/p>\n
Jordan called on Congress to \u2018get to work\u2019 and cited the crisis in the Middle East as well as the looming government funding deadline on Nov. 17.<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019ve got important work to do, important work to do. We need to help Israel. We need to get the appropriations process moving so that the key elements of our government are funded and funded in the right way, particularly our military,\u2019 Jordan said.<\/p>\n
\u2018We need to get back to our committee work and frankly, we need to continue the oversight work that I think is so darn important. In short, we need to get to work for the American people.\u2019<\/p>\n
The GOP bomb-thrower fell 17 votes short of a 217-threshold majority on Tuesday, and then 18 votes short on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Tentative plans for a Thursday vote were scuttled as GOP lawmakers huddled behind closed doors for nearly four hours trying to figure out how to move forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The House has been paralyzed for more than two weeks since ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy\u2019s ouster by eight Republicans and every House Democrat.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not immediately clear what kind of path forward Jordan has. Multiple holdouts who met with him on Thursday told reporters their minds remained unchanged.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Jordan brushed off questions about what he intends to do if he loses again Friday, insisting the best way to get the House back in order was to elect a speaker.<\/p>\n
\u2018Between the first and the second vote, you all said we\u2019re going to lose ten, 15 votes\u2026We picked up a few. We lost a few. I think the ones we lost can come back,\u2019 Jordan said.<\/p>\n
\u2018So look, there\u2019s been multiple rounds of votes for speaker before. We all know that. I just know that we need to get a speaker as soon as possible, so we can get to work for the American people.\u2019<\/p>\n