Rep. Jim Jordan, one of two candidates to become House speaker, said Sunday the new leader’s first order of business is to ensure Israel gets the U.S. support it needs, and then lawmakers must deal with the looming expiration of the stopgap spending bill that’s keeping the government open.
Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News he will outline a plan for how the government funding process should go when he meets with the GOP conference this week to make his case for taking over as speaker. The full House is expected to vote Wednesday on a replacement for Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican who was ousted last week.
Dealing with Israel and its war with Hamas will be “front and center” for Congress, “and then frankly, the next order of business is to deal with what's coming on Nov. 17,” Jordan said.
Jordan said he feels “very good” about the level of support he has received in his race against Minority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.
“We've got amazing feedback and incredible feedback from our colleagues across the country, across the spectrum in the Republican conference. We’ve got conservatives to what’s termed more moderate members. We’ve got three committee chairmen for me,” said Jordan, who is currently the Judiciary Committee chairman.
Jordan said voters are “hungry for leadership.”
“Republicans need to unite and show the country that we're fighting for them. Think about what they see every day: Crime in the streets. Ten thousand illegals coming across the border every single day, the price of food, what it costs to put gas in their car.”
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Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, who filed the motion to vacate that ultimately resulted in McCarthy’s removal, expressed confidence Sunday his Republican colleagues could unite on a candidate.
“Fortunately, we've got two great men running for speaker, Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise. I reject the premise that this is going to drag on for weeks,” Gaetz told NBC’s Meet the Press.
“If we have a Speaker Jim Jordan or a Speaker Steve Scalise at the end of the coming week, there won't be a single Republican, sans maybe Kevin McCarthy, who doesn't believe that we have upgraded the position. This is about ensuring long-term stability financially for our country from a leadership standpoint."
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who hasn’t endorsed a candidate in the speakership race, told CNN his GOP colleagues don’t want a repeat of the prolonged election in January that took 15 ballots to complete before McCarthy won the speakership.
“We're ready to unify as a conference, unify around one speaker, and not have the civil war … disrupt the legislative process,” he said.
He said either candidate “can provide the solidarity that we need to stop these motions to vacate from hitting the floor.”
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