October 11, 2023
Before I tell you what the first resolution passed under “speaker Steve Scalise” will be – you have to understand – Steve Scalise is not the speaker and he won’t be the speaker today.
The full House will not vote because the guy the Republican conference selected to be the Speaker this morning – Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana — does not have the 217 votes he needs to become the 56th Speaker of the House.
Scalise can only lose four Republican votes and at this point about a dozen Republicans have said they will vote no. So now it’s up to Scalise and his team to negotiate with those members to see what kinds of deals he can make with them to secure their support.
He knows it’s not going to be easy. But he says it needs to happen quickly because without a Speaker the House is paralyzed and the “to do list” is piling up.
So if he can secure the votes and become the next Speaker – here’s what he said that work will look like.
But his other priority will be the border. Scalise says if he’s elected speaker, he will immediately ask for a meeting with President Biden to come up with a plan.
So the question is – when will the full House actually vote for the next speaker? Well – that’s up to Steve Scalise. As you heard him say he wants to open the House back up and get to work, but he also doesn’t want to go to a floor vote until he knows he has 217 in his pocket.
Watch Rep. Steve Scalise speak after being selected as Speaker elect here.
