(Reuters) – Outspoken U.S. Republican Jim Jordan will not hold a third ballot to be speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and will instead back empowering interim speaker Patrick McHenry, the Washington Post and Punchbowl said on Thursday.
Since Matt Gaetz convinced the majority of Democrats and a small number of Republicans to support the resignation of previous House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, McHenry has been in office.
According to the Post Millennial, Gaetz was concerned that McCarthy, who had been successful in keeping any more financing for the Ukrainian war out of a 45-day stopgap budget package to keep the government open, was allegedly engaging in “side deals” to assure additional funding for that conflict.
House Republicans have been holding private meetings to coordinate their positions. However, more than 20 House Republicans voted against Jordan twice, and 55 House Republicans refused to support him during the first vote.
Jordan declined to comment ahead of a meeting of Republicans.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren, editing by Ismail Shakil)
