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The House Speaker Role Remains Vacant
As of October 20, 2023, the House is still without a Speaker. Republicans are divided over Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who has been rejected twice for the position, following the motion to vacate that removed Speaker McCarthy from office two weeks ago. The House GOP conference originally voted to support the nomination of Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA); however, he withdrew his name from consideration after falling short of securing the necessary 217 votes coming out of conference. Rep. Jordan is in a similar position, facing a wall of opposition from nearly 22 House Republicans who are adamant in their opposition. However, Jordan’s office has announced that he will call for a third vote on Friday, October 20.
The situation has caused chaos among Republicans, a proposal to empower Speaker Pro Tem McHenry (R-NC) was met with opposition by the House Freedom Caucus who argued that the plan flew in the face of the intent of the role of speaker pro tem.
Republicans find themselves in a challenging position, with no Speaker, they are unable to conduct the business of the House, including advancing legislation. This comes at an importune time as the House has 29 days to pass the FY24 appropriations funding for the federal government, addressing the rapidly declining stability of the Middle East, and advance additional emergency supplemental funding to Ukraine. Not to mention, the continuing challenges of the Southern Border that require immediate attention.
This all has serious implications for the self-employed, micro-business and small business community, as shared in a letter to lawmakers in September, calling on Congress to avoid a costly government shutdown, “The 2018 government shutdown delayed over $2 billion in federal loans to small businesses as the Small Business Administration was unable to make new loans. Delays such as these disrupt not only the day to day operations of small businesses, but they put budgets in limbo, resulting in business owners putting off necessary purchases or hiring additional staff. The impacts of government shutdowns are especially damaging for small businesses because they don’t have the same resources as large companies to absorb even short term losses. Most small businesses operate on tight, carefully planned budgets and even minor disruptions can threaten stability.”
NASE joined the 12 of the largest and most influential business organizations in calling for Congress to fund the government through FY 24. Read the letter here.
*As of October 19th, Rep Jim Jordan withdrew from the Speaker race due to eroding support after a 3rd vote*
**As of October 25th, Rep Mike Johnson from Louisiana was voted new House speaker.