Frustrated GOP congressman calls out Jim Jordan’s hypocrisy: 'The goalposts continue to move'

16 October 2023

With Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) having ended his quest to become speaker, far-right House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is now the nominee. But it remains to be seen whether Jordan can get the 217 votes needed for confirmation.

Jordan, a highly divisive and polarizing figure, is unlikely to receive any Democratic votes — and has very little wiggle room where Republican votes are concerned.

When CNN's Kate Bolduan interviewed Rep. Steve Womack (R-Arkansas) on Monday morning, October 16, he wouldn't say how he plans to vote on making Jordan speaker. But Womack made it clear that he is quite frustrated by ousting of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) as speaker and the chaos that has followed.

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Womack told Bolduan, "I've got some serious issues about where we stand right now as a conference. Because it seems that the goalposts continue to move. The other day, when Steve Scalise won and became the designee of the Republican conference, his opponent Jim Jordan — who is now the designee — said that he would…. support Scalise if Scalise can get 217 in conference before going to the floor. Now, all of the sudden, it looks like if you are short of 217, it is OK now to go to the floor, since he is the designee."

Womack continued, "So, I'm not sure where all of this comes down. All I can tell you is it's a mess. It's basically self-inflicted. We have allowed a very small percentage of people in our conference to dictate a potential outcome here. And that is not the way that this system is designed to work — nor should it work."

The GOP congressman noted that 217 GOP votes will be necessary to confirm Jordan "because you're not going to get any support from Democrats."

Womack said, "The people who are promoting Jim Jordan, for the most part, are people who presided over the ouster of Kevin McCarthy…. I still think he's got an uphill battle to get to 217 on the first ballot if, in fact, we go tomorrow."

When Bolduan asked a frustrated Womack if he would be willing to work out some type of bipartisan deal with House Democrats in order to get a speaker confirmed, he responded, "If it comes to that."

Womack added that in light of the crisis in Israel, "At some point in time, we're going to have to work across the aisle" to get a speaker confirmed.

Watch the full CNN video below or at this link.

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