(CNN) — Congressional leaders have come to an agreement on a two-tranche short-term funding bill to keep the government funded into March, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

The new continuing resolution will fund the government through March 1 and March 8. The agreement comes just before the first funding deadline of January 19. The second government funding deadline was February 2.

House Republicans will have a conference call Sunday night to discuss the continuing resolution, the source told CNN. And the text of the resolution is expected to be posted Sunday evening, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

Schumer and House Speaker Mike Johnson announced last weekend that they had reached an agreement on topline spending numbers, the first step in the process to fund the federal government.

Those numbers include $1.59 trillion for fiscal year 2024, with $886 billion for defense spending and $704 billion in non-defense spending. Schumer and Johnson also agreed to a $69 billion side deal in adjustments that will go toward non-defense domestic spending.

But far-right members of the House GOP conference slammed the deal and some have pushed to include border policy changes in exchange for not shutting down the government. The blowback highlights the challenge for Johnson, who is leading an extremely narrow majority.

Johnson said Friday the deal remains in place after he appeared to be at least entertaining the idea of abandoning it in meetings with conservatives.

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  (CNN) — Speaker Mike Johnson is facing an extremely narrow majority in the House and tough vote math as Congress confronts upcoming battles over government funding, aid to Ukraine and Israel and border security.

At the start of the new year, Republicans control just 220 seats while Democrats control 213, which means the House GOP can’t afford to lose more than a few votes to pass party-line priorities. Additionally, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s office has announced that he will work remotely until returning to Washington in February as he recovers from a stem cell transplant.

The House Republican majority will shrink even further by the end of the month with Ohio GOP Rep. Bill Johnson resigning from Congress on January 21 to take a new job as president of Youngstown State University. At that point, Republicans will control 219 seats to 213 for Democrats.

There are currently two vacancies in the House following former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s resignation from Congress at the end of last year and the expulsion of former GOP Rep. George Santos of New York.

Johnson will have little margin for error as Congress faces major policy battles in the weeks ahead.

The most pressing issues are a pair of government shutdown deadlines in January and February and a high-stakes effort to strike a deal over border security and aid for Ukraine and Israel. It’s far from clear, however, whether lawmakers will be able to reach consensus over border security and foreign aid and legislation to avert a shutdown.

In a rare event, Congress faces not one but two government shutdown deadlines early in the new year – on January 19 and February 2.

Congress passed stopgap legislation in mid-November extending government funding until January 19 for priorities including military construction, veterans’ affairs, transportation, housing and the Energy Department. The rest of the government will be funded until February 2.

There are growing threats, however, from some House Republicans to shut down the government over issues at the southern border if hardline conservative border policies are not adopted.

Hardline House conservatives have already shown that they can hold major sway in the chamber with such a narrow majority – most notably when a group of hardliners moved to oust McCarthy from the speakership in a historic and unprecedented vote last year.

The exact size and scope of the far right of the House Republican Conference varies from issue to issue. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized House conservatives, describing “the 30 of them” in an apparent reference to conservatives who have made hardline demands over border policy, though it’s unclear exactly which lawmakers Schumer was citing.

Another key group within the House GOP conference are politically vulnerable members from battleground districts – members who will be under intense scrutiny during the 2024 election year.

There were 18 Republicans in House districts that President Joe Biden won in 2020 – a number that is now down to 17 after the expulsion of Santos. The fate of these politically vulnerable members will be key to whether the GOP can hold onto its majority.

Johnson will have to balance competing demands from the far-right and more moderate factions of the conference, no easy task as Congress faces government shutdown battles and fights over hot-button issues that have long been contentious on Capitol Hill such as border security.

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(CNN) — The House voted Friday to expel GOP Rep. George Santos, a historic vote that makes the New York congressman the sixth lawmaker ever to be expelled from the chamber.

The vote brings an end to a scandal-plagued and tumultuous tenure on Capitol Hill for the freshman New York congressman. Expulsion is the most severe form of punishment for a lawmaker in the House. It is exceedingly rare and requires a two-thirds majority vote to succeed – a high bar to clear.

Santos had survived prior attempts to oust him, but there was growing momentum for the latest effort after the House Ethics Committee released a long-awaited report, which concluded that the congressman had “sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit.”

The resolution passed 311 to 114, with 105 Republicans voting with the overwhelming majority of Democrats in favor of expulsion. Two Democrats voted “no,” and two Democrats voted present.

Santos told CNN after the vote to expel, “It’s over.”

“The House spoke,” Santos said. “That’s their vote. They just set a new dangerous precedent for themselves.”

“To hell with this place,” he said.

Santos announced that he would not seek reelection following the release of the ethics report, but he had refused to resign and denounced the investigation as “a disgusting politicized smear.”

The New York Republican has separately pleaded not guilty to 23 federal charges, including allegations of fraud related to Covid-19 unemployment benefits, misusing campaign funds and lying about his personal finances on House disclosure reports.

In addition to the legal issues he faces, Santos has sparked shock and controversy on Capitol Hill over revelations that he fabricated large parts of his life story, including significant elements of his resume and biography.

Santos had remained defiant as he faced the threat of expulsion, arguing that he was being bullied and that it would set a dangerous precedent if the House expelled him since he has not been convicted in a court of law.

Republicans weigh how to vote

A number of Republicans who previously did not support Santos’ expulsion said they would vote to expel him as a result of the Ethics panel’s findings, though it was not clear ahead of the vote if there would be enough support to oust the congressman.

The expulsion vote set off a debate among GOP Republican lawmakers over how to vote.

Some Republicans have argued it is imperative to expel Santos in light of the findings of the ethics investigation. Others, however, have raised concerns over due process given that Santos faces an unfinished legal battle and has not at this time been convicted.

The renewed push to expel Santos presented a leadership test for newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson as he navigated competing opinions within his conference. Additionally, House Republicans control a very narrow majority, and expulsion would shrink it even further.

Johnson and three other top members of House GOP leadership voted against the effort to oust Santos.

“We’ve not whipped the vote and we wouldn’t,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday morning. “I trust that people will make that decision thoughtfully and in good faith. I personally have real reservations about doing this, I’m concerned about a precedent that may be set for that.”

House Ethics panel releases scathing report

In November, the House Ethics Committee released a major report following an investigation into Santos’ conduct.

The ethics committee said it uncovered additional “uncharged and unlawful conduct” by Santos beyond the criminal allegations already pending against him, and would immediately refer the allegations to the Justice Department for further investigation.

The panel concluded that there is “substantial evidence” that the New York congressman used campaign funds for personal purposes.

Santos engaged in “knowing and willful violations” with regard to financial disclosure statements filed with the House, according to the panel, and “knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission.”

The committee didn’t include a disciplinary recommendation in its report, but said that the conduct of the congressman merits “public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of the office, and has brought severe discredit upon the House.”

Expulsion from the House exceedingly rare

Following the expulsion vote, Santos becomes just the sixth lawmaker ever to be expelled from the chamber and the first House member to be expelled without having been convicted or having supported the Confederacy.

Only five House lawmakers have ever been expelled. Three of the five House lawmakers who have been expelled throughout history were ousted over their support for the Confederacy.

The most recent expulsion in the House took place in 2002 when the chamber voted to expel Democratic Rep. James Traficant of Ohio after he was convicted of federal corruption charges.

There have been previous attempts to expel Santos that did not succeed prior to the release of the ethics report on the congressman’s conduct.

In early November, a Republican-led effort to expel Santos failed. Ahead of the vote, Santos defended his right to “the presumption of innocence.”

In May, the House voted to refer a Democrat-led resolution to expel Santos to the Ethics Committee.

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(CNN) — House Republicans voted by a secret ballot Friday to drop Rep. Jim Jordan as the speaker designee after he failed Friday for the third time to win the gavel.

Jim Jordan stood up and said he accepted the results, multiple lawmakers told CNN.

In Friday’s floor vote for the speakership, 25 House Republicans voted against Jordan – a higher number than in the two prior votes and far more than the handful of defectors Jordan could afford to lose and still win the gavel given the GOP’s narrow majority.

The battle for the speakership has now dragged on for more than two weeks with no end in sight. Jordan’s struggle to win the gavel has also highlighted the limits of former President Donald Trump’s influence in the speaker’s race after he endorsed Jordan.

The House remains effectively frozen as long as there is no elected speaker – a perilous situation as Congress faces an impending government funding deadline and the threat of a shutdown.

The speaker vacuum triggered by the historic ouster of Kevin McCarthy led by a bloc of hardline conservatives also comes as Israel is at war with Hamas and Ukraine fights against Russian aggression.

A third failed vote

In the first round of voting for a new speaker, 20 House Republicans voted for someone else. In the second round, that number rose to 22.

On Friday, the vote count against Jordan increased to 25 House Republicans. There were three new GOP votes in opposition – Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Tom Kean of New Jersey and Marc Molinaro of New York.

Kean said in a statement explaining his position, “it has become evident that Chairman Jordan does not and will not have the votes to become Speaker.”

In a sign that Jordan could lose even more support if he continues to hold votes, Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas, who voted for Jordan in the last three rounds, told CNN that he will vote for Trump if there’s another speaker ballot. “My next vote will be for Donald J. Trump,” he said.

GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Flordia said that the eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy sent a letter to their colleagues encouraging them to vote for Jordan for speaker and that they are willing to “accept some consequence” to get them to do so.

“If what these holdouts need is a pound of our flesh, we’re willing to give it to them in order to see the election of Jordan for speaker,” Gaetz said just after the failed vote.

In terms of specific consequences, Gaetz said they “are willing to accept censure, sanction, suspension, removal from the Republican conference. We of course will remain Republicans; we will continue to vote with Republicans on Republican principles.”

Tensions mount among House Republicans

Some Republicans who oppose Jordan have decried what they described as a pressure campaign against them by allies of the Ohio Republican. And several Republicans who opposed Jordan’s speakership bid have said they experienced angry calls, menacing messages and even death threats since casting their votes. Jordan has condemned the threats.

A closed-door House GOP conference meeting on Thursday turned heated, multiple sources told CNN. Some members encouraged Jordan to drop out of the race. There was also an emotional discussion over the threats some Jordan holdouts are facing. Later, members leaving the meeting described it as an airing of grievances with tensions running high.

Some Republicans looking for a way to break the impasse have suggested expanding the powers of interim Speaker Rep. Patrick McHenry – a controversial move that would put the House even further into uncharted territory. But there is widespread opposition within the Republican conference to the idea.

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(CNN) — Tensions are boiling over among House Republicans on Thursday afternoon as the conference searches for a viable path forward with Rep. Jim Jordan so far vowing to stay in the race to be the next speaker despite substantial resistance.

Jordan affirmed Thursday that he is still running for the speaker’s gavel and said he plans to talk to House Republicans who have opposed his candidacy in two floor votes. The Ohio Republican faces an uphill battle to win over holdouts, however, and is under growing pressure from within the GOP conference to drop out.

A closed-door GOP conference meeting on Thursday turned heated, multiple sources told CNN, with some members railing against Jordan, and one swearing at Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who led the rebellion against former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whose ouster has led to the more than two week leadership vacuum.

There was also debate during the meeting over whether Republicans should support a resolution to temporarily expand the powers of interim Speaker Rep. Patrick McHenry – a controversial move that would put the House even further into uncharted territory following McCarthy’s historic ouster.

House Republicans later emerged from the three-hour meeting that went on with a new plan: Scrap the resolution to empower McHenry and instead go forward with more floor votes for Jordan. Members left the room saying that Jordan said it was his intention to hold another floor vote on Thursday instead of moving forward with a resolution to empower McHenry.

In a sign of the emotional tone of the meeting, Gaetz was at one point told to sit down by McCarthy, a California Republican, and refused to do so, which led to Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois becoming “all emotional and ugly and was cussing him,” and “telling him it’s all his fault,” one member said describing the meeting.

Other sources, confirming this exchange, said McCarthy “yelled” at Gaetz to sit down. And when Gaetz didn’t listen, another member in the room yelled “sit the f*** down, Matt.”

Effort to empower McHenry also faces opposition

Other Republicans, including some who supported Jordan, railed against him for backing the resolution to expand the powers of the interim Speaker McHenry, a Republican from North Carolina. Some members encouraged Jordan to drop out of the race. There was also an emotional and heated discussion over the death threats some Jordan holdouts are facing.

Gaetz later told reporters of McCarthy, “I think his passions are a little inflamed, and he’s working through the stages of grief.”

The idea of empowering McHenry has faced broad opposition from many Republicans and would have required support from Democrats for it to pass.

Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana called the resolution to empower McHenry a “giant betrayal” to Republican voters and the “biggest F-U” to GOP voters since a majority of House Republicans may vote against it.

Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon told CNN that Jordan “needs to get out,” saying it would be a problem for him if Jordan doesn’t run for a third ballot but remains in the race as a speaker-designee.

“He needs to keep voting and then he needs to get out. He doesn’t have the votes, it’s going to get worse for him, so let’s not delay this,” he said.

Jordan, who has made a name for himself as a hardline conservative agitator, has so far vowed to stay in the race despite two failed votes for the gavel.

In a sign of growing opposition to his candidacy, Jordan fared worse in a second round of voting on Wednesday than he had in the first vote a day earlier.

After Wednesday’s failed speaker vote, a number of Republicans who oppose Jordan expressed outrage over what they described as a pressure campaign against them by Jordan allies – and made clear they won’t be swayed. Several Republicans who opposed Jordan said they are experiencing angry calls, menacing messages and even death threats since casting their votes. Jordan on Wednesday condemned the death threats, saying “it’s just wrong.”

The House remains effectively frozen as Republicans fail to coalesce around a viable alternative to McCarthy after the former speaker was ousted in a historic vote by a group of conservative hardliners.

Now, more moderate and mainstream Republicans are the ones digging in, with some concerned over the prospect of a conservative firebrand like Jordan as speaker and others angry over the role hardliners played in pushing out McCarthy and then opposing House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s bid for speaker.

Opposition to Jordan grew in between votes

During the first round of voting, 20 House Republicans voted against Jordan. In the second round, that number rose to 22. There were four new Republican votes against Jordan and two that flipped into his column.

Given the narrow House GOP majority, Jordan can only afford to lose a handful of votes and the high number of votes against him so far puts the gavel far out of reach for now.

If Jordan withdraws, then other candidates could jump into the race. Among those considering a run: Reps. Jodey Arrington of Texas, Jack Bergman of Michigan and Mike Johnson of Louisiana, according to GOP sources. But they would all struggle to get to 217 votes.

Jordan is a polarizing figure in the speaker’s fight. He is a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, and helped found the hardline House Freedom Caucus. As the chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, he has also been a key figure in House GOP-led investigations.

His struggle to win the gavel has highlighted the limits of Trump’s influence in the speaker’s race after the former president endorsed Jordan.

It took McCarthy 15 rounds of voting in January to secure the gavel.

Some Republicans, however, have argued that given the unprecedented situation the House is now in without a speaker the current race should not go on for that long.

A fast-approaching government shutdown deadline and conflict unfolding abroad has also fueled calls for Republicans to bring an end to the leadership vacuum as soon as possible.

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(CNN) — Republican Rep. Jim Jordan again failed to win the House speaker’s gavel in a second vote on Wednesday, faring worse than he did during the first round of voting one day earlier. The loss raises serious questions over whether the Ohio Republican has a viable path forward as he confronts steep opposition and the House remains in a state of paralysis.

Despite the defeat, Jordan has vowed to stay in the race. The House is expected to hold a third speaker vote on Thursday at noon ET. Without a speaker, the chamber is effectively frozen, a precarious position that comes amid conflict abroad and a potential government shutdown next month.

The conservative Republican’s struggle to gain traction has also highlighted the limits of Donald Trump’s influence in the speaker’s race after the former president endorsed Jordan.

As pressure grows on Republicans to find a way out of the leadership crisis, some are pushing to expand the powers of the interim speaker, GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, though such a move would not be without controversy and has divided Republicans.

During the first round of voting on Tuesday, 20 House Republicans voted against Jordan. On Wednesday, that number rose to 22, showing that the opposition against the candidate has grown. There were four new Republican votes against Jordan and two that flipped into his column. Given the narrow House GOP majority, Jordan can only afford to lose a handful of votes and the high number of votes against him puts the gavel far out of reach.

Following his second defeat on the floor, Jordan indicated that he is dug in on pressing ahead.

“We don’t know when we’re going to have the next vote but we want to continue our conversations with our colleagues,” he said.

“We’ll keep talking to members and keep working on it,” he added.

Jordan is a polarizing figure in the speaker’s fight, a complicating factor in his effort to lock down votes. He is a staunch ally of Trump, has a longstanding reputation as a conservative agitator and helped found the hardline House Freedom Caucus. As the chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, he has also been a key figure in House GOP-led investigations.

It took former Speaker Kevin McCarthy 15 rounds of voting in January to secure the gavel. But Jordan faces an uphill climb amid the deep divisions within the House GOP conference and the resistance he faces.

Frustrations mount among Republicans

As the speaker battle drags on, tensions and frustration have risen among House Republicans. Some of the lawmakers who have voted against Jordan in the speaker’s race have railed against what they have described as a pressure campaign against them.

Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas derided what he called the “attack, attack, attack” tactics of Jordan allies against his Republican opponents.

“Frankly, just based on what I’ve been through – I can only speak to myself and what my staff has been through over the last 24 or 48 hours – it is obvious what the strategy has been: Attack, attack, attack. Attack the members who don’t agree with you, attack them, beat them into submission,” he said.

GOP Rep. Don Bacon’s wife received anonymous text messages warning her husband to back Jordan. Bacon has been a vocal holdout against Jordan and was one of the 20 Republican members that did not back Jordan on the floor in Tuesday’s vote.

“Your husband will not hold any political office ever again. What a disappointment and failure he is,” read one of the messages sent to Bacon’s wife and obtained by CNN through Bacon.

Bacon’s wife responded to that text saying, “he has more courage than you. You won’t put your name to your statements.”

Opponents to Jordan’s bid so far have included centrist Republicans concerned that the face of the House GOP would be a conservative hardliner as well as lawmakers still furious at the small group of Republicans who forced out McCarthy and then opposed House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s bid for the gavel.

Scalise initially defeated Jordan inside the GOP conference to become the speaker nominee, but later dropped out of the race amid opposition to his candidacy.

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(CNN) — Conservative Republican Rep. Jim Jordan failed to secure enough GOP support to win the House speakership on the first ballot, falling well short of what the Ohio Republican’s allies had hoped, with 20 Republicans voting against Jordan.

Now Jordan will try to sway the holdouts – a group of GOP moderates and allies of former speaker Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise – to change their votes, as the high-stakes chaos over the speaker’s gavel continues two weeks after McCarthy was removed.

The slim margin is what led to McCarthy’s removal at the hands of a band of eight GOP rebels – and a small group of House Republicans unhappy with Jordan could block his ascension, too.

The 20 Republicans who voted against Jordan included House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado and a quartet of New York Republicans in purple districts.

The anti-Jordan contingent cast six votes for McCarthy, seven votes for Scalise and three for former New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin, among other alternatives.

Jordan and his allies felt they had made significant headway over the past several days, with the Ohio Republican pitching skeptical lawmakers one on one – and his allies outside Congress attacking the holdouts and threatening political consequences if they stand against a favorite of the Trump-aligned GOP base.

“I feel really good,” Jordan told CNN just before the vote. “Whatever it takes to get a speaker today.”

“We need to get a speaker today and we feel really good about where we’re at,” he added.

It’s been two weeks since McCarthy’s historic ouster. Until the House selects a speaker, the chamber is in a legislative paralysis, unable to consider legislation, such as passing additional military aid to Israel or government funding – with the threat of a shutdown just a month away thanks to McCarthy’s six-week stopgap spending deal that prompted the move against him.

Jordan’s allies believe the number of GOP opponents has shrunk from the 55 who voted Friday against supporting him on the floor to roughly eight-to-10 holdouts.

On Monday, several key holdouts said they would support Jordan, including Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri, who had previously called Jordan a “nonstarter.”

“I feel like he can bring together everybody, from the moderates to the ultra conservatives, and Republicans across the spectrum,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York. “The bottom line is we’ve got to get back to work. We don’t have any time here to waste.”

Even if Jordan doesn’t have the votes on the initial ballot, he could force additional votes, just as McCarthy did in the 15 rounds it took him to be elected speaker in January.

But there are still a group of lawmakers publicly opposing Jordan, including GOP lawmakers still angry that a small group of Republicans forced out McCarthy and then opposed the speaker nomination of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who initially defeated Jordan inside the GOP conference, 113 to 99.

“I can’t get past the fact that a small group in our conference violated the rules to get rid of Kevin, and then blocked Steve,” said Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska. “You don’t have a process where I play by the rules and these other people can’t and then they get what they want. That’s not American. Americans want fair play and rule of law.”

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida said he planned to continue to support Scalise on the floor. “You can remember we had an election; the guy who won was the guy who I was with,” he said Monday, while warning that any attempts to pressure him would backfire.

Rep. Ken Buck, a Colorado Republican, said he’s opposed to Jordan, noting Monday evening that he needed to hear Jordan publicly say that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Jordan on Tuesday doubled down on objecting to the 2020 election certification.

Several Republicans – including from districts won by President Joe Biden – declined to say Monday evening whether they would vote for Jordan on the floor.

House Democrats have blasted Republicans for putting forward Jordan as the next potential speaker. “I was the last person on the floor January 6, and the idea that this guy is the Republican nominee to be speaker, a guy who aggressively agitated the activities that happened on January 6, I think is disgusting,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat.

Jordan’s backers have urged the conference to unify around him – even those who went after McCarthy and opposed Scalise.

Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania argued that those angry shouldn’t take it out on Jordan because he supported both McCarthy and Scalise.

“Feelings are hurt,” Perry said. “But Jim didn’t have anything to do with that. So they need to assign their ire, if you will, to those who they think deserve it – but certainly not Jim Jordan.”

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(CNN) — Rep. Jim Jordan won the support of several key skeptics in the Republican conference Monday, bolstering momentum for his bid for speaker ahead of a planned floor vote on Tuesday.

House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers and House Appropriations Defense subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert – two key defense hawks, the GOP bloc perhaps most weary of Jordan – announced Monday morning they would back Jordan on the House floor. And Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri, who called Jordan a “non-starter” for speaker last week, said Monday that she would support the Ohio Republican, too – as did Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida, another previous holdout.

“Jim Jordan and I spoke at length again this morning, and he has allayed my concerns about keeping the government open with conservative funding, the need for strong border security, our need for consistent international support in times of war and unrest, as well as the need for stronger protections against the scourge of human trafficking and child exploitation,” Wagner said in a statement. “Jim Jordan is our conference nominee, and I will support his nomination for Speaker on the House floor.”

Even with the additional support, Jordan still faces an uphill climb to be elected speaker. On the floor, he can afford to lose only four Republicans if every member votes, because a speaker needs a majority of the full House to be elected.

Jordan told CNN he will go to the floor for a speaker vote at noon ET Tuesday, whether or not he has the votes locked up. “I think the only way to do this, the way the Founders intended, is you … have to vote tomorrow,” Jordan said. “We set it for 12 p.m. ET. I feel good about it.”

Asked if he would go to a second ballot, Jordan said: “We are going to elect a speaker tomorrow.”

If Jordan is able to secure the votes to become speaker Tuesday, it would put an end to a chaotic and unprecedented two weeks in the House following McCarthy’s ouster. Without a speaker, the House is unable to pass legislation despite the international crises and a government shutdown one month away, though some members have explored empowering interim Speaker Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican who was appointed to the position following Kevin McCarthy’s ousting.

But if Jordan is unable to corral enough support to win a floor vote, Republicans would be back at square one, leaving the House in a speakerless paralysis.

Last week, 55 Republicans voted inside the GOP conference against committing to supporting Jordan on the floor. The Ohio Republican then sent the conference home for the weekend, saying he planned to speak to the members one-by-one.

GOP activists, meanwhile, went on the attack against those opposing Jordan, arguing that doing so would empower House Democrats.

Jordan and allies look to flip holdouts

On Sunday, a senior Republican House member told CNN he believes there are still roughly 40 “no” votes, noting he’d spoken to 20 members willing to block Jordan’s path to the floor in a potential roll-call vote Tuesday. But another GOP source familiar with the matter said Jordan has had positive conversations with members, and believes by Tuesday evening he will be elected speaker.

As a series of one-time Jordan holdouts announced Monday they were now backing Jordan, an ally helping whip votes told CNN Jordan believes he is within “striking distance” of having the votes to secure the gavel.

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas predicted there were fewer than 10 holdouts that remained on Monday. “We are somewhere south of 10 who are still being recalcitrant,” Roy said on the Erick Erickson Radio Show Monday morning.

Jordan allies say they believe they can get the no votes down to the teens by Tuesday, although a source cautioned it’s hard to know for sure until the voting begins. If Jordan has around 20 or fewer holdouts, the thinking is – like McCarthy – he can grind it out on the floor.

It’s one thing, allies say, to be opposed to Jordan on a secret ballot in a closed-door meeting. It’s another thing to vote against him on the floor.

McCarthy on Monday told CNN, “yes,” he believes Jordan will be able to pull it off on the floor Tuesday, when asked about Jordan’s chances on his way into the speaker’s office.

The strategy comes as there is still serious work to do. Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska told CNN he spoke to Jordan on Sunday and told him he still would not support him. Among the reasons he listed: Jordan’s vote against a short-term spending bill, as well as out of principle that a handful of members have been controlling every move of the conference for months.

“I am not trying to be an a-hole to Jim,” said Bacon, adding that he is not necessarily a “hard no.”

Bacon also told Jordan he wouldn’t be a thorn in his side if he’s ultimately elected, saying he doesn’t intend to act like Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida did toward McCarthy.

Other members say they are still weighing their options, but another holdout warned that if Jordan allies intend to try and bully members into being a “yes,” they ought to think twice and warned it could backfire.

Another senior GOP aide told CNN that some moves deployed over the weekend had rubbed members the wrong way. The source shared an email from a Fox News producer for Sean Hannity that asked them to answer a series of questions about their boss’ position on Jordan.

The Hannity producer asked if it was true their boss opposed Jordan, and then wrote, “If true, Hannity would like to know why during a war breaking out between Israel and Hamas, with the war in Ukraine, with the wide-open borders, with a budget that’s unfinished why would Rep. [X} be against Rep. Jim Jordan for speaker?”

“Please let us know when Rep. [X] plans on opening the People’s House so work can be done,” the producer wrote.

The email, which CNN reviewed from a source, was first reported by Axios.

Hannity, the Fox host, has been publicly advocating for Jordan, telling his supporters to “call your member and tell them” to support the Ohio Republican.

Jordan urges GOP conference to unify

Jordan sent GOP lawmakers a “dear colleague” letter on Monday urging the conference to come together.

“The country and our conference cannot afford us attacking each other right now,” he wrote. “It is time we unite to get back to work on behalf of the American people.”

Republicans are expected to meet again behind closed doors Monday evening ahead of Tuesday’s vote.

If Jordan wins the vote, his election as speaker would come after his own supporters blocked Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s path to the speaker’s gavel. While Jordan said he would support Scalise, more than a dozen of his supporters refused to support the House majority leader after Scalise defeated Jordan in a conference vote last week, 113 to 99.

Scalise dropped out in the face of the entrenched opposition, giving Jordan the opportunity to get the conference behind him.

Now Jordan is making the pitch to his skeptics to do what the Ohio Republican’s backers would not, urging the conference to coalesce around him, even after more than 50 Republicans said they were opposed. The statements from Rogers and Wagner noted they were supporting the nominee chosen by the conference.

“Since I was first elected to the House, I have always been a team player and supported what the majority of the Republican Conference agrees to,” Rogers wrote on X. The Alabama Republican said that he had “two cordial, thoughtful, and productive conversations over the past two days” with Jordan about passing legislation, including the annual defense authorization bill and the farm bill.

There are still signs that Jordan doesn’t have the entire conference on board. GOP Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas demurred when asked by CNN’s Kate Bolduan if he would vote for Jordan on the floor.

“You will know how I vote when I vote, but I have serious issues about where we stand right now as a conference,” he said.

Womack also expressed frustration with his conference and many of Jordan’s supporters. “The goalposts just continue to move,” he said. “The people that are promoting Jim Jordan, for the most part, are the people who presided over the ouster of Kevin McCarthy, so it is kind of interesting to see all the bedfellows here.”

Senate returns to tackle Israel legislation

Last week, the Senate was in recess while House Republicans tried to elect a speaker. But the upper chamber will be back Monday and plans to quickly consider an aid package to Israel – allowing Senate Democrats to paint a stark contrast between the two chambers if the speaker fight drags on.

“We’re not waiting for the House,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday at a news conference in Israel, where he was leading a bipartisan congressional delegation. “We believe that if the Senate works in a strong bipartisan way, it may indeed improve the chances that the House, even with its current dysfunction, will act.”

In addition to passing a new aid package for Israel, government funding runs out in roughly a month, and the White House is still pushing for Congress to approve additional aid to Ukraine – all issues that a new speaker will need to navigate.

As the speaker fight has dragged on, lawmakers have looked at alternative ways to get the House moving. There’s been discussion as to whether McHenry could be given expanded powers, though it’s not clear there would be support in the chamber to do so.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday there have been “informal conversations” about a bipartisan governing coalition, though he did not say whether there was a candidate on the Republican side who could garner Democratic votes.

“There are informal conversations that have been underway. When we get back to Washington tomorrow, it’s important to begin to formalize those discussions,” Jeffries said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” Sunday that the “manufactured divisions” inside the conference make it hard for any candidate to get the necessary votes.

“Nothing’s impossible,” Crenshaw said of Jordan’s chances. “But it’s going to be really, really difficult, based on what I’m hearing.”

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(CNN) — House Republicans voted behind closed doors to select Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana as their nominee for speaker, according to multiple sources familiar, paving the way for a floor vote to elect a new speaker after Kevin McCarthy’s abrupt ouster.

It is not yet clear when the full House will hold the speaker vote, but it could take place as soon as Wednesday. Scalise currently serves as House majority leader.

Until a speaker is elected, the House remains effectively paralyzed following McCarthy’s ouster, an unprecedented situation that has taken on new urgency amid Israel’s war against Hamas. Raising the stakes further, the longer it takes Republicans to elect a new speaker, the less time lawmakers will have to try to avert a government shutdown with a funding deadline looming in mid-November.

Scalise was running against GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee and the only other declared Republican candidate for the speaker’s nomination. Jordan was endorsed by former President Donald Trump in the speaker race and has made a name for himself as a staunch Trump ally.

After his removal as speaker in a historic vote last week, McCarthy announced he would not run again for the post. But allies of the former speaker could still nominate him during Wednesday’s closed-door meeting, though McCarthy has said he has told members not to do so.

Earlier on Wednesday, House Republicans rejected a proposal to raise the threshold required to select a GOP speaker nominee – a proposal that was aimed at preventing a messy public fight for the gavel.

The rules change would have raised the threshold to select a speaker nominee from a majority of the GOP conference – or 111 votes – to 217 votes, a majority of the full House, the number required to win the speaker’s gavel when the entire chamber holds its vote.

The effort to change the rules was aimed at avoiding a protracted floor fight like the one in January when it took 15 rounds of voting for McCarthy to win the gavel.

The timing of the House floor vote is technically up to Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry, who is serving in the top leadership spot on an interim basis. However, he is expected to defer to whoever the GOP nominee is, and the timing of the vote will be their call.

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(CNN) — House Republicans remain badly divided over their two choices for speaker in the aftermath of the ouster of Kevin McCarthy from the speakership – and are bracing for the possibility that neither House Majority Leader Steve Scalise nor House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan can get the 217 votes needed to be elected speaker.

The deep uncertainty has heightened talk in GOP circles that a dark-horse candidate could emerge, as McCarthy himself refused on Monday to rule out a return to the speakership if Scalise or Jordan fail to win the votes to assume the most powerful position in Congress.

“I’m going to allow the conference to do their work,” McCarthy said repeatedly at a Monday news conference, refusing to publicly endorse Scalise or Jordan for the job.

The comments – and the 11th-hour talk of a McCarthy comeback, which is still seen as a long-shot – underscore the deep turmoil that exists this week as Republicans struggle to coalesce behind a speaker following last week’s unprecedented events when eight Republicans joined with Democrats to remove McCarthy from the speakership. Moreover, Republicans are in active talks to raise the threshold needed for the number of votes to win the conference’s nomination for the speakership – a key issue that could hobble Jordan’s or Scalise’s bid and could end with a new candidate altogether.

The internal talks come as emotions remain raw after McCarthy was ousted following a right-wing revolt after the California Republican relied on Democrats to help advance a short-term spending bill to keep the government open. On Monday, McCarthy had choice words for the eight GOP members, saying they “love the cameras” and were interested in “pettiness” – a sentiment echoed by many of his allies within the conference.

“Many will refuse to support who the eight ‘traitors’ coalesce around because they don’t want the 96% to give into the 4%,” one House GOP member told CNN. “Many refuse to reward the 4%.”

Rep. Mike Lawler, a freshman New York Republican, said that McCarthy “is the right person to lead,” and questioned whether anyone else can secure enough votes to win the speakership.

“Who can? Does anybody have the votes?” he asked as he walked into McCarthy’s office.

Some of the Republicans who voted to remove McCarthy are making clear they won’t back down as the California Republican leaves the door open to returning to the speakership, further underscoring the uncertainty inside the conference.

Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told CNN, “We’re aren’t relenting.” Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina sent CNN a poll showing the majority of Americans and even Republicans support McCarthy’s ouster. And Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida compared McCarthy’s comments at his Monday news conference to a “death rattle.” He also tweeted “math is real” and “time to move forward.”

Mace and Gaetz have both already thrown their support behind Jordan.

“The most popular thing Congress has done since Kevin McCarthy became speaker was vacate him,” Mace told CNN.

Some centrist Republicans are now calling to restore McCarthy as speaker after the attacks on Israel, expressing concern the House remains paralyzed without a speaker and worried they won’t be able to coalesce around a new candidate quickly.

When asked if it’s feasible for McCarthy to return, another GOP lawmaker and McCarthy ally said it’s a “possibility” but said a lot will depend on how Monday’s House GOP conference meeting shakes out. Others speculated McCarthy would have to cut a deal with Democrats in order to prevail, which he refused to do last week.

If no one can get 217 votes to be elected speaker, it remains to be seen whether another candidate will emerge – and several Republicans are suggesting that remains a distinct possibility. Among the names floated in addition to McCarthy: Reps. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, interim House Speaker Patrick McHenry of North Carolina and House Rules Chairman Tom Cole, also of Oklahoma.

The GOP conference is meeting Monday evening for the first time since last week. Then, there will be a candidate forum on Tuesday and an internal leadership election on Wednesday.

What could change the dynamics in the conference: Whether House Republicans adopt new rules to achieve the needed votes to become speaker.

Indeed, House Republicans are expected to debate Monday evening whether to make it harder for candidates to win their conference’s nomination for speaker – in an effort to avoid a protracted floor fight like the one that occurred after McCarthy won the gavel after 15 ballots in January.

The idea is to make sure that the internal squabbling happens out of public view and behind closed doors, so the candidate can emerge from the conference with enough votes to be elected speaker on the first ballot.

The proposal is being pushed by Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania – two members who represent opposite wings of the conference – and they are suggesting Republicans raise the threshold to win the nomination from a simple majority of the conference, which is 111 members, to a majority of the House – currently 217 with vacancies. Last week, 94 members sent a letter asking for that change to be formalized in the rules.

The strategy would prevent the conference from moving forward to the floor without enough consensus to actually elect a speaker. The thinking behind these tactics is that they could avoid the optics of round after round of televised failed House floor votes.

That means the candidate could only afford to lose four GOP votes before winning the conference nomination. But if neither Scalise nor Jordan can get the 217 votes internally, some say that’s when another candidate could emerge.

Allies to Jordan and Scalise are divided over a proposal to the change, which would have major implications for who would be able to prevail. Jordan and many of his supporters are backing the proposal.

“I think it’s real important that we go to the floor with 217 votes, 218 votes,” Jordan told CNN.

But Scalise allies, who believe the Louisiana Republican can secure a majority of the conference but acknowledge he won’t get 217 votes on the first ballot, are against the move.

Said Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas: “We don’t need to be going about changing the rules in the middle of an election.”

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