The parliamentary crisis in the USA is dragging on and on: the ultra-conservative Republican Jim Jordan failed in the third attempt in the search for a new chairman of the House of Representatives. The number of Republican MPs who refused to approve former President Donald Trump’s ally increased on Friday: while 20 Republicans voted against Jordan on Tuesday and 22 on Wednesday, there were now 25.
Jordan only received 194 of the 429 votes cast. President Joe Biden’s Democrats voted unanimously for their group leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The House of Representatives has been without a chairman since Republican Kevin McCarthy was deposed by a rebellion by right-wing hardliners in his own party on October 3 – and has therefore been paralyzed for two and a half weeks. Most recently, the plan to give executive chairman Patrick McHenry more powers for a few months so that the chamber can pass laws again failed.
The blockade of Congress, in which the Republicans only have a narrow majority, comes at a time of major international crises. US President Joe Biden asked Parliament on Friday for more than 75 billion dollars (around 71 billion euros) in military aid for Israel and Ukraine. However, the financial resources cannot flow without the consent of the House of Representatives, which is currently unable to act.
Jordan, who was supported by Trump, was nominated by the Republican faction for the third-highest state office a week ago. Previously, the actually nominated majority leader, Steve Scalise, had thrown in the towel due to a lack of support within his own ranks.
Jordan, known for sharply right-wing positions and an aggressive political style, is rejected by many moderate Republicans and is unelectable for the Democrats. A way out of the crisis was recently not in sight.
