Adding further intrigue to the current state of things in the House, Jim Jordan is set to pause his pursuit of the Speakership. Instead, he is planning to endorse a plan to empower Patrick McHenry of North Carolina with additional authorities temporarily in order to allow the House to take up substantive matters. A number of questions and issues with that plan remain, however, such as:
- Details about exactly how long McHenry would be elevated and the authorities he would have remain unclear.
- With McHenry in a temporary role and Jordan not officially abandoning his pursuit of the Speaker position, Jordan would still be the Speaker-designate. This would allow him additional time to try to build additional support for his candidacy while McHenry presides over the House. Whether Jordan seeks future votes on the floor for Speaker is uncertain.
- The question about a future vote on Jordan leads to another question, this one related to whether Democrats would support the move bestow additional authorities to McHenry. A number of Republicans have publicly stated their opposition to giving the Speaker Pro Temp position additional powers. Given that the proposal requires a majority to pass, those pushing the idea would need Democratic support.
Needless to say, things still remain very fluid. Read more about the developments here, here, and here.