Still no white smoke: Ohio elected official Jim Jordan, Donald Trump’s lieutenant, failed Tuesday to be elected head of the House of Representatives in the first round of a crucial election, plunging the institution into crisis.
• Read also: The US Congress will vote on a new Speaker of the House on Tuesday
The 50-year-old could, however, maintain his candidacy for the position of “speaker” for several rounds, which means that it is still possible that he will reach the perch.
The American Congress has two chambers: one, the Senate, is won by Joe Biden’s Democrats, but it is the other, the House of Representatives, in the hands of the Republicans, which has been experiencing unprecedented chaos for two weeks.
This institution has no longer had a “speaker” since the historic dismissal of Kevin McCarthy on October 3, depriving it of many of its powers, including the adoption of measures of support for Israel or Ukraine.
Ukraine, Israel
With a majority in the House and therefore responsible for electing its president, the conservatives have for two weeks been exposing their divisions in broad daylight around the appointment of a successor to Kevin McCarthy.
After numerous very sluggish negotiations, the elected representative of Ohio Jim Jordan, very close to Donald Trump and member of the most conservative fringe of the party, is currently the only Republican candidate in the running.
But he failed to win the support of enough of his peers to make it to the perch in a plenary vote in the chamber.
20 Republican elected officials, mainly moderates who criticize Jim Jordan for positions that are too extreme, voted against his candidacy.
A notable fact pointed out by his detractors: elected to Congress in 2006, Jim Jordan has never succeeded in having the slightest bill adopted in his name. And he is, according to several rankings, considered one of the least productive elected officials in the House.
This election could, however, be spread over several days: the dismissed “speaker” Kevin McCarthy had to fight for 15 rounds and swallow more than one snake to reach the perch in January.
The Republicans want at all costs to avoid reliving this humiliating sequence, captured at the beginning of the year by televisions across the country. So far, in vain.
The Senate mobilizes for Israel
In an institution still marked by the assault on the Capitol, the Democrats denounce the ambiguous position of Jim Jordan on the 2020 presidential election, an election that Donald Trump still describes, without proof, as “stolen”.
The elected representatives of Joe Biden’s party, in the minority in the House, all lined up around the candidacy of their leader Hakeem Jeffries, but did not have enough votes to win the presidency either.
The pressure for the House to get back into working order is all the greater as the Senate, the other chamber of Congress, is already preparing a large envelope for Israel.
This will contain “military, diplomatic, humanitarian and intelligence aid – all things that Israel needs,” Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday, hoping to have it adopted “within the next few weeks.”
The Senate is also scheduled to consider a resolution condemning Hamas and debate Wednesday the confirmation of a new ambassador to Israel.
“As Israel’s closest ally, the United States must set an example by supporting its actions to defend itself for as long as it takes,” insisted its Republican leader, Mitch McConnell.