10/13/2023

Steve Scalise Drops Out of House Speaker Race

This deepens the Congressional crisis

Representative Steve Scalise, who Republicans picked to be the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, dropped out of the race on Thursday as his party failed to resolve its divisions, sending the chamber into its 10th day without leadership.

Scalise, the Majority Leader, had secured his party's nomination to replace ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy but was still short of the 217 votes needed to be elected on the House floor, as several of his fellow Republicans said they would not support him.

Republicans could afford no more than four defections - they control the House by a narrow 221-212 margin - if they wanted to end the House's leaderless bout that has already lasted nine days.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Reuters.