Plan to elevate McHenry to temporary House speaker for 90 days sharply divides Republicans

The House GOP conference is divided on whether to support a proposal to elevate fellow Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry from his post as speaker pro tempore to temporary House speaker after GOP Rep. Jim Jordan decided Thursday not to move forward with his bid to become the next House speaker and instead support McHenry as a short-term solution.

Jordan had planned to try securing enough GOP votes until January and remain the speaker designee, according to a congressional source familiar with the deliberations.

However, Just the News has learned that Jordan has since decided to move to a third round of voting, which is expected on Friday. The McHenry plan remains a backup option should Jordan come up short in the next round. 

The Ohio Republican, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, failed twice this week to secure enough ballots to win the speakership on the House floor. 

"I'm still running for speaker and I plan to go to the floor and get the votes and win this race," Jordan said on Thursday. "But I want to go talk with a few of my colleagues, particularly I want to talk with the 20 individuals who voted against me, so we can move forward and begin to work for the American people."

McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, was appointed as speaker pro tempore after California GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the speakership post more than two weeks ago -- the longest stretch the House has been without a speaker.

Former GOP House speakers Newt Gingrich and John Boehner have supported the idea of passing a resolution to empower McHenry as speaker but some Republicans are opposed to such a move, including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.

Ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Thursday that he is not sure if the House GOP conference would eventually support empowering McHenry as a temporary speaker so the path forward is unclear. 

"The whole country, I think, would scream at Matt Gaetz right now," he said. "Remember, it was the crazy eights led by Matt Gaetz and every single Democrat that put us in this situation."

The conference has been split on choosing a new speaker, with far-right members largely opposing McCarthy and then supporting Jordan. However, moderate GOP holdouts are not budging and opposing Jordan.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., former chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, told Just the News on Wednesday that making McHenry speaker until January would be a mistake. 

"They would be creating a Speaker Patrick McHenry for 90 days and during that 90 days will be the very, very important spending bills for the next 12 to 18 months," he said. "And so I think it'd be a mistake."

Gaetz also opposes passing a resolution to empower a temporary speaker so the House can pass legislation. 

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said the House's job is to elect a speaker and not a temporary one.

"Any resolution, anything that undermines that process is a mistake," he said.