Rep.-elect Matt Gaetz (R-FL) gave a fervent speech on the floor of the House of Representatives nominating Rep.-elect Jim Jordan (R-OH) to become the next Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Despite Rep.-elect Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) having the majority of House Republicans backing him, he does not have enough support to reach the 218-vote threshold needed to officially hold the gavel.
BREAKING: Rep. Matt Gaetz delivers impassioned speech endorsing Rep. Jim Jordan for House Speaker. pic.twitter.com/VTsWF0feZb
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) January 3, 2023
Rep. Gaetz, as well as 19 other Republicans (including Rep. Byron Donalds, (R-FL) denied McCarthy the Speakership three times.
A fourth vote will be held Wednesday at noon.
New members-elect like Florida's Anna Paulina Luna, Cory Mills, Laurel Lee, Aaron Bean Maxwell Frost, and Jared Moskowitz, cannot be sworn into the House of Representatives until a Speaker is elected.
“I rise to nominate the most talented, hardest working member of the Republican conference who just gave a speech with more vision than we have ever heard from the alternative. I’m nominating Jim Jordan. Jim Jordan is humble. Perhaps humble to a fault," said Gaetz.
In perhaps the most memorable part of the speech, Gaetz stated that perhaps it’s Jordan’s humility that qualifies him more to be the Speaker of the House more than anything else.
“Maybe the right person for the job of Speaker of the House isn’t someone who wants it so bad. Maybe the right person for the of Speaker of the House isn’t someone who has sold shared of themselves for more than a decade to get it? Maybe Jim Jordan is the right person for the Speaker of the House because he is not beholden to the lobbyists and special interests who have corrupted this place and corrupted this nation under the leadership of both Republicans and Democrats,” Gaetz added.
Moreover, Gaetz mentioned that Jordan wouldn’t give more far-right Republicans as many roadblocks when it comes to issues such as term limits, border security, and balancing the budget. Also, with Jordan at the helm, the omnibus spending bill wouldn’t have been accepted as is according to Gaetz.
This is a developing story.
