Conservative holdouts dig in their heels against Scalise for House speaker

Republican opponents of making Steve Scalise speaker of the House dug their heels in on Thursday before the House was set to vote for a new leader.

The House Republican Conference met in the basement of the US Capitol on Thursday to continue their deliberations after they had spent most of Wednesday morning in the Longworth House Office Building nominating Mr Scalise.

But many Republicans who supported Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH), a hardline conservative and chairman of the House Judiciary Chairman, remain dissatisfied with Mr Scalise as the nominee for speaker.

Rep Chip Roy (R-TX), a member of the House Freedom Caucus which Mr Jordan co-founded, criticised the process on Thursday after Republicans tabled an amendment of his that would have required any Republican nominee for speaker to have the support of 217 of 221 members. Mr Roy told reporters the process was “one of the swampier things” he’d seen, mentioning how leaders invoked K Street, the famous lobbying corridor of Washington DC.

“Many of us who can do our own whip count knew that the votes weren't there,” he told reporters. “So let's figure this out. And they tried to steamroll it. And that's not a good direction to go. So I'm not there.”

Mr Roy was one of the initial opponents of former speaker Kevin McCarthy who later flipped his vote and opposed a motion to vacate last week.

But even supporters of Mr McCarthy in January – when Mr McCarthy won the speaker’s gavel – now have concerns about Mr Scalise, who serves as House majority leader. Rep Brian Mast, who supported Mr McCarthy and vehemently criticised holdouts in January, said that he shared many of the concerns of his colleagues.

“I wouldn't vote for any member of our current leadership,” he told The Independent. “Because they're not leading right now.”

Rep Thomas Massie (R-KY), who also supported Mr McCarthy, said he continues to back Mr Jordan and criticised Mr Scalise.

“He hasn't given us a plan to get past the spending bills actually,” he told The Independent. House Republicans generally oppose passing an “omnibus” spending bill which puts all 12 spending bills for the fiscal year into a single piece of legislation.

Republicans had hoped to pass single pieces of legislation before the end of the fiscal year last month, but after negotiations failed, Mr McCarthy passed a continuing resolution to keep the government open for 48 days.

Mr Massie said he preferred Mr Jordan’s leadership style.

“It's more of a meritocracy on these committees instead of fundraising-tocracy are some of the ways this place is broken,” he said. He added that voters back in Kentucky preferred Mr Jordan. “Like 10 to one in my district, they're for Jordan.”

Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), repeated her concerns to reporters that Mr Scalise has myeloma, a type of cancer in the plasma cells.

“I like him so much, I want to see him beat cancer,” she told The Independent. “My father died from cancer. It's a serious battle. But our country we have many issues right now and I want the strongest, healthiest sSpeaker of the House.”

But many Republicans are frustrated at the holdouts.

“My message to them is the same as those who are holding off McCarthy, unify behind our conference candidate,” Rep Ashley Hinson (R-IA), told The Independent. “We need to get back to work because it's certainly the American people who suffer. It's not the politicians playing games here.”

The House was set to hold a vote for speaker on Wednesday but members left after it was clear Mr Scalise did not have the votes. But Ms Greene said she was not concerned about the process being drawn out.

“I think we should get to the House floor and do the votes. Kevin McCarthy had to go 15 rounds,” she said. “The next one maybe needs to go 15 or more and I'm all game for it.”