Speaker election falters. Should an interim post become Plan B?
After two weeks of trying to elect a new speaker with no success, House Republicans are confronting the uncomfortable possibility that perhaps no candidate will be able to win the necessary 217 supporters. On Wednesday, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan lost a second vote on the House floor by a larger margin than before.
Some in the GOP are now casting about for a Plan B. One idea gaining currency – to let acting Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry temporarily do the job.
Like every aspect of this saga, this option, too, is fraught with uncertainty. No speaker has ever been voted out as Kevin McCarthy was on Oct. 3, and his acting successor, Mr. McHenry, is the first ever to take up the gavel under an emergency
