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Hours After Jim Jordan, Scalise Announces Candidacy For House Speaker

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by Tyler Durden
Wednesday, Oct 04, 2023 - 05:32 PM

Update (1332ET): House Republican Steve Scalise has announced his run for Speakership

Either Jordan or Scalise would be a "monumental upgrade" over McCarthy, according to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

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Update (1150ET): In a Wednesday letter asking for the support of his GOP colleagues for House Speakership, Rep. Jim Jordan laid out three fundamental tasks the House must accomplish: "pass the bills that need to be passed, do the oversight, and rein in the spending."

"Far-left progressive policies are destroying our communities, our security, and our future," said Jordan, adding "We have soaring crime across the country. We have an administration with open-border policies that have caused chaos and left our country vulnerable. We’ve seen federal agencies turned on the American people—silencing speech online, targeting parents at school board meetings, and flagging pro-life Catholics as potential threats—and we’ve witnessed blatant double standards in federal law enforcement. We continue to spend too much money and Americans are suffering under President Biden’s economy."

Full text below:

Dear Colleague:

The American people have entrusted us to lead in the House of Representatives. Our majority has had success in the first nine months of the 118th Congress. We should be proud of what we have achieved together in these divided times.

But our work is not done. Far-left progressive policies are destroying our communities, our security, and our future. We have soaring crime across the country. We have an administration with open-border policies that have caused chaos and left our country vulnerable. We’ve seen federal agencies turned on the American people—silencing speech online, targeting parents at school board meetings, and flagging pro-life Catholics as potential threats—and we’ve witnessed blatant double standards in federal law enforcement. We continue to spend too much money and Americans are suffering under President Biden’s economy.

The Republican majority must continue to address the issues that matter to the American people. We must address rising crime in major cities and reject soft-on-crime, pro-criminal policies. We must get our fiscal house in order and reduce spending so that we can leave more to the next generation than a crushing deficit. We must do our constitutional oversight of the federal bureaucracy to ensure they work for the American people—not the other way around. And we must continue working to secure the border and protect our national security.

We agreed at the beginning of the Congress that there are three fundamental things the House must do: pass the bills that need to be passed, do the oversight, and rein in the spending. Working with Chairman Green and our leadership, I helped to deliver the most significant legislative accomplishment this Congress: the strongest immigration and border enforcement bill ever. With other committee chairs and the members of the Judiciary Committee, 1 am doing the oversight and holding the Administration accountable. And 1 have been among the leaders in pushing for fiscal discipline my entire career.

We are at a critical crossroad in our nation’s history. Now is the time for our Republican conference to come together to keep our promises to Americans. The problems we face are challenging, but they are not insurmountable. We can focus on the changes that improve the country and unite us in offering real solutions. But no matter what we do, we must do it together as a conference. I respectfully ask for your support for Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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Jim Jordan (R-OH), the man who said he didn't want the job, is running for House Speaker to replace Kevin McCarthy (R-INO).

A firebrand Congressional investigator (or angry letter-sender, depending on how you define progress), Jordan was reportedly having conversations with House GOP allies, and will reportedly throw his hat in the ring, Politico reported on Tuesday.

Jordan, who once challenged McCarthy for the speakership before becoming his biggest defender among conservative hardliners, has grown in popularity with the conference in recent years, but some centrists and rank-and-file members may be cool to the idea of his ascension given his role in helping force out former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). -Politico

"We've had a lot of people reach out to us, asking me to do it, because I think we can. We'll see if that happens, but I think I can," Jordan said Wednesday morning after leaving the Speaker's Office.

Jordan has the support of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).

Did talk of 'Speaker Trump' convince Jordan to go for the job?

Another name floating around is Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), who's considered a top contender to replace McCarthy.

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