The House speaker pro tempore, Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., told reporters on Friday that he would be open to a plan that would expand his office's powers until a new speaker can be elected, in an effort to help the House function.
"Look, you can count the votes on the floor," McHenry said following the third unsuccessful vote to elect Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as speaker of the House. "You can see what the last week of work has resulted in. We sit today with fewer Republican votes than we did at the beginning of the week, and that's a serious challenge that we're gonna have to work through."
He added, "If there's a formalized vote for a speaker pro tem, it can be done."
When asked if that's an option to which he would agree, McHenry said, "Yes."
He added, "It has proven to be constitutional. There's a way through this and a way that the institution can function, but you have to have a formal vote to do anything else."
McHenry added that he would oppose an attempt for the GOP to pressure him on legislation that would expand his powers without a formal vote on the matter, and he noted that he threatened to resign if placed in such a position during a meeting on Thursday.
"If they attempted to do that, that is directly what I said: 'You'd find out who's next on the list,'" McHenry said, referring to the person who would take over if he resigned his post as acting speaker.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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