White House urges House Republicans to 'join this president at the adults table'

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19 October 2023

As Republican Speaker nominee Jim Jordan temporarily pauses his bid after twice failing to garner enough votes, the White House in a rare move is urging House Republicans to “get their act together and join this president at the adults table.”

Rather than face a likely third, and larger rejection, Judiciary Chairman Jordan announced there would not be a vote Thursday for Speaker. He now backs a vote to make Republican Patrick McHenry, who was appointed Speaker Pro Tempore under house rules by ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy, temporary Speaker until January 3, 2024.

The White House Thursday morning released a memo to reporters, The Hill writes, saying: “As President Biden acts to make America more secure, grow our economy for the middle class, and protect our freedoms, House Republicans are falling over one another to find out who can be the most erratic and out of step with the priorities of working families.”

“The House GOP’s backbiting and competition to out-extreme each other is also surfacing hardline positions that the American people have solidly rejected again and again,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates wrote. “Including dangerous conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, radical abortion bans, and cuts to Medicare and Social Security.”

House Republicans “continue their downward spiral into chaos and away from governing,” he added.

“President Biden is leading and standing up for our national security interests on the world stage, fighting to reduce costs like energy and junk fees — both of which he took recent action on — and bringing the nation together to support Israel in the wake of the worst terrorist attack in its history,” Bates also said, according to NBC News.

And he blasted “House Republicans’ self-inflected, extreme chaos,” in attempting to elect a Speaker, CNN’s DL Judd reports.

The Washington Post on Wednesday reported, “Americans see the House speaker mess as hurting the country,” pointing to “YouGov’s new polling for the Economist [that] indicates most Americans — including most Democrats and Republicans — think the lack of a speaker is hurting the ability of the government to function.”

The Post adds, “most Republicans say … what they want from a speaker [is] someone who sticks to their principles, no matter what,” while a “plurality of Americans (including both Democrats and independents) view compromise as a better alternative.”

President Biden returned Wednesday from a trip to Israel, his second to an active war zone not controlled by U.S. Armed Forces. Biden is the only U.S. President to ever do so, The Atlantic reported earlier this week. Thursday night the President will deliver a rare Oval Office Address to the American people.

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