Rep. Steve Scalise is dropping out of the speaker’s race after House Republicans failed to coalesce behind him in the aftermath of Kevin McCarthy’s historic ouster.
House Republicans met behind closed-doors for more than two hours Thursday afternoon, where the Majority leader urged his detractors to explain their opposition to him in front of the conference. After the meeting ended, Scalise huddled with those opposed to him in his office. And Republicans scheduled a second members-only conference meeting for Thursday evening.
But the opposition to Scalise as the next speaker only grew Thursday, with roughly 20 Republicans publicly opposing him. Scalise needs a majority of the House to be elected speaker, meaning he can only afford to lose four votes.
What I’m naively optimistic for is a center Republican to come forward with a deal with center house Dems and a few center Reps and create a coalition governments.
Basically trade a few committee seats and offer a floor vote on a couple Dem bills.
They don’t even have to guarantee passage. And everyone can win the messaging when the bills don’t pass. GOP can say they are “fighting DEM spending and waste” DEM can say “they are trying to make your life better but those dirty GOP are ruining it”