Former Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz has suggested the House of Representatives look outside its members in its search for a new speaker as plans to elect Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) to the position have faltered.
The House's move to make Jordan the speaker of the House has now failed in two votes, with Jordan expected to tell members of the House Republican Conference that he will not hold a third ballot. Chaffetz, a Republican, said that while he would hope that House Republicans would rally behind Jordan, a solution to the search for House speaker could be to look "outside the body."
JIM JORDAN WON'T HOLD THIRD BALLOT, WILL BACK TEMPORARY POWERS FOR MCHENRY
"I’m a big fan of Lee Zeldin. I think there should be more discussion about bringing in a Lee Zeldin," Chaffetz said. "Or even Speaker Newt Gingrich and say, 'Hey, I’ll run it out through the end of the term.' There needs to be some creative thinking like that to say, 'We need a Band-Aid. We need somebody who can galvanize everybody.' Because there's too much animosity right there in the body, and maybe it's going to take somebody from the outside like a Zeldin or a Gingrich to actually do it."
Chaffetz was also asked about his thoughts on a middle ground on the speakership vote, which would be to give Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC) the power of speaker until the end of the term. Chaffetz admitted that McHenry has "a lot of support" but that making him the speaker would cause confusion among people who would ask why House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) was not given the role of speaker.
"Patrick McHenry has a lot of support," Chaffetz said. "People really like him and trust him. He is a good man. But I don’t know that that’s a solution. I don’t understand when they put in a speaker pro tem why that person had no powers. It was supposed to be done for continuity of government purposes. So they got to hash that out."
Jordan failed to gain the gavel in the second round of voting, with 20 Republicans voting against him in the first round and 22 Republicans voting against him in the second. It comes after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) took 15 ballots to be elected speaker in January but was ousted on Oct. 3.
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The House voted 216-210 to remove McCarthy from the role of speaker, the first time it had happened in U.S. history. Eight Republicans joined Democrats in voting to remove McCarthy.
Amid the search for a new House speaker, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican, has encouraged House members to compromise in order to elect a speaker and elect Jordan to the position, saying Republicans need to "order from what you've got up there" and "get Jim Jordan."