Morning Report — If Jordan is out, is McHenry in?   

Just In News | The Hill 

The bid by Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan to be Speaker failed on a second vote Wednesday, this time by a larger margin than his Tuesday tally. A third vote is expected  to begin at noon today. 

Colleagues predicted he would not succeed in reaching the magic 217-vote threshold, adding to the urgency and drama surrounding the GOP’s search for a fallback idea to find a leader and resume legislative business (The Hill). 

The possible parachutes under discussion include yet another, unnamed candidate as an alternative, or approving enhanced temporary authority for Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), currently the Speaker pro tempore. 

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) needed 15 ballots in January to win the gavel, and was eventually ousted by a small group of renegade lawmakers last month. But his tallies never fell below 200, and Jordan’s downward trajectory was seen by colleagues as a bad sign after two rounds. 

The main impediments to Jordan’s efforts are mainstream House Republicans, members representing both swing and safe districts. They do not sound like they’ll budge. Some are vulnerable Republicans who don’t want to be tied to his brand of combative politics. Others are appropriators who chafe at how Jordan and his allies have impeded spending bills while steering toward shutdowns (The Hill). 

Jordan continues to work through a list of GOP opponents, hoping to flip some colleagues into his camp. Reputationally known as an unyielding member of the House Freedom Caucus, Jordan has not been averse to pressure plays and dangled sweeteners. 

Bloomberg Tax reported he offered to try to lift the $10,000 cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction to $20,000, touching on a concern among moderate Republicans from high-tax states including New York, who come from districts that voted for Biden or represent constituents who dislike former President Trump and are wary of Jordan, a staunch Trump ally and a National Medal of Freedom recipient, an honor awarded by the former president two years ago for defending him during his impeachment. Jordan leads the House GOP impeachment inquiry focused on Biden ahead of the 2024 election as Judiciary Committee chairman, which under his direction is investigating Hunter Biden.     

EXPANDING MCHENRY’S POWERS: Ahead of Jordan’s struggles, fellow Ohio Republican Rep. David Joyce said he would introduce a resolution to enhance McHenry’s authority, with limits. Across the aisle, House Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) expressed openness to installing McHenry or another Republican in the temporary role. 

“We’re Team Reasonable. We’re Team Normal. They’re Team Out of Their Fking Minds, and what we’re looking for is some reasonable human being if, in fact, we’re going to go the way of a Speaker pro temp,” McGovern told The Hill. “We want people who are gonna do the responsible thing, not cheer on a government shutdown, not bring garbage to the floor, but actually — for whatever period of time — that person would be there to actually help us legislate in a responsible way.” 

As The Hill’s Al Weaver reports, many Senate Republicans on Wednesday signaled support for such a solution. Asked Tuesday if Democrats were open to the idea, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told CNN “our focus right now relates not just to any one individual, but to getting the institution reopened.” McHenry, he added, “is respected on our side of the aisle.” 

Reactions among lawmakers range from gleeful to resigned. 

“Guess they still haven’t learned their arithmetic!” former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said of House Republicans as she exited the chamber after the Wednesday vote. 

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) — a McCarthy supporter whose wife received anonymous texts and calls in the days leading up to the vote that urged her to tell Bacon to vote for Jordan — was more sober in his assessment, telling CNN’s Jake Tapper that Jordan would not be Speaker: “I believe he’s done. He needs to withdraw from this. He’s going to lose more votes tomorrow, I know it… He doesn’t have any pathway forward to 217.” 

President Biden’s bold visit Wednesday to Tel Aviv challenged the administration’s assertion for days that it stands with Israel without trying to influence its reactions to what Biden again described as a “massacre” of innocent Israelis by Hamas on Oct. 7. 

 The president made clear in remarks to reporters that the U.S. wants the Israeli government and its military to consider “alternatives” to a costly, gruesome ground war, the goal of which, according to Israel, is supposed to be the end of Hamas. 

 Both privately and publicly Wednesday, Biden encouraged Israel to carefully contemplate “mistakes” made by the United States following the 9/11 attacks. He did not explain exactly what he had in mind. Biden has for years described his takeaway that “today, many of our greatest concerns cannot be solved or even addressed by the force of arms.” 

Biden said a key goal of his trip was to urge Israel to allow humanitarian aid, including food, medicine and fuel, to enter Gaza to help the majority of Palestinian civilians who are not Hamas and are without shelter, food and medical help after Israeli airstrikes. 

“I WAS VERY BLUNT WITH THE ISRAELIS,” Biden told reporters traveling with him. He said the U.S. wants to see humanitarian aid enter Gaza territory, home to 2 million people, perhaps half of them now displaced. “If they have an opportunity to relieve the suffering of people who have nowhere to go, they’re going to be — it’s what they should do. And if they don’t, they’ll be held accountable in ways that may be unfair,” he said. 

Biden did not recount Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reactions, but the prime minister hugged the president when he arrived and spoke effusively about Biden’s willingness to fly into a war zone to stand with Israel. 

Biden told reporters he had “a very blunt negotiation” with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi by phone after planned meetings Wednesday with Arab leaders in Amman, Jordan, fell apart on Tuesday. 

Al-Sisi agreed to open the border between Egypt and Gaza for “up to 20 trucks” to deliver humanitarian aid, to be received and distributed on the other side by U.N. personnel, the president said. The timing is unclear, since a system for the transit, which Israel backs, must first be secured. If Hamas is found to be confiscating international shipments, “it will end,” Biden said. 

“I came to get something done and I got it done,” he added. 

The president said he could not discuss publicly the efforts to free American and other hostages from Gaza, a U.S. priority and a significant challenge. “We’re going to get people out, but I’m not going to get into any detail now,” he said. 

OTHER TANGIBLE STEPS announced Wednesday included a U.S. pledge of $100 million in humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and a pending request to Congress this week for aid to Israel. That package, bundled with more aid for Ukraine, is expected to encounter pushback. Biden will add details about Israel’s situation during an Oval Office address tonight at 8 p.m. ET. He also plans to update Americans during his remarks about Russia’s war against Ukraine and the continued importance of U.S. support for Kyiv.   

Even the president’s description about carefully listening in Tel Aviv to the emotional accounts he heard from Israeli survivors who experienced the attacks underscored his desire to influence what happens next. Understanding, offering an embrace and seeing their tears was a way for a U.S. leader to convey “hope,” Biden explained. 

Swing-district Republicans are split in their support for Jordan’s Speakership bid, underscoring the political challenges they face heading into next year amid the House GOP’s leadership vacuum. As The Hill’s Julia Manchester reports, while a number of Republicans representing districts that Biden won in 2020 backed Jordan on the first round of voting, a sizable number also voted for someone else. House Democrats have already telegraphed that they will tie their GOP opponents to Jordan, should he become Speaker.  

But not voting for Jordan also carries risks for Republicans, who can be accused of contributing to the chaos that has engulfed the party in the lower chamber. 

One presidential candidate supporting Jordan is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who on Wednesday criticized the Republican chaos in the lower chamber of Congress. 

“I was hoping that Jim would get — Jim Jordan would get elected,” DeSantis said in an interview with Blake Burman, moderator of “The Hill” on NewsNation. “But you know, what I see is just the contrast between what’s going on in D.C. and how we roll in Florida. We don’t do political empty calories down here. We don’t do the sideshow. We don’t do the drama. We just deliver results across the board.” 

DeSantis on Wednesday called upon his rivals in the 2024 Republican presidential race to oppose Biden’s $100 million in U.S. funding to assist civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, arguing the money is a “$100 million gift to Hamas.” The White House is separately preparing a supplemental funding request for Congress that could equal roughly $100 billion in aid to Israel, Ukraine and border security.  

When asked Wednesday on NewsNation’s “The Hill” if he would support this type of request, DeSantis said, “Well I think the Republicans will ensure that it’s separate; I think those should be separate debates.” 

ABC News: DeSantis touted his role in organizing flights out of Israel, but some details are murky. 

Former President Trump was back in court for the second day in a row Wednesday as his New York civil fraud trial continued. Also in attendance: New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), whose office brought the suit against the former president. The lawsuit accuses Trump and his adult sons of engaging in a decade-long scheme in which they used “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate Trump’s net worth in order to get more favorable loan terms (The Hill). 

Judge Arthur Engoron asked Trump to pipe down after he grew animated while a witness testified against him. Engoron issued the warning after Trump threw his hands up in frustration and conferred with his lawyers during real estate appraiser Doug Larson’s second day of testimony, according to The Associated Press. Kevin Wallace, a lawyer with the state attorney general’s office, requested that Engoron ask the defense to “stop commenting during the witness’s testimony,” noting that Trump’s comments were audible on the witness side of the room. Engoron then asked everyone to keep their voices down, “particularly if it’s meant to influence the testimony.” 

IMMIGRATION  

As the White House grapples with the soaring number of migrants and asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, conservative pundits and politicians have upped accusations that some Democrats support “open border” policies. By using the term, conservatives are suggesting that anyone can get into the U.S. without much hassle. But the reality is that the southern border is more fortified than it’s ever been. Since 1992, the U.S. has quadrupled the number of Border Patrol agents — from less than 5,000 to nearly 20,000 (Axios). 

The immigration enforcement system wasn’t designed for the Biden administration’s needs. As The Hill’s Rafael Bernal reports, immigration policy is enforced by a sprawling bureaucracy rebuilt in the aftermath of 9/11 from the bones of a 20th century system designed to modulate the flow of temporary workers from Mexico. The resulting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hosts three major immigration agencies with a workforce weary of radical policy changes from administration to administration.  

“In some ways, the bigger fact here that is really difficult for these agencies is whiplash. And it is the fact that with each administration, there have been really sharp changes in policy and that is very difficult for large organizations of any kind,” said Doris Meissner, who ran the Immigration and Naturalization Service under former President Clinton and now heads the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute. “But certainly, these organizations that are dealing with such controversial issues, those really sharp changes from administration to administration are probably the more difficult thing to live with.” 

OPINION 

■ Jordan for Speaker isn’t happening. A temporary Speaker could break the deadlock, by Robert Wasinger, opinion contributor, The Hill. 

■ How an interim Speaker Patrick McHenry could actually govern, by Brendan Buck, guest essayist, The New York Times. 

THE CLOSER 

Take Our Morning Report Quiz 

And finally …  It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for this week’s Morning Report Quiz! Inspired by snazzy dressers on the Hill, we’re eager for some smart guesses about dress codes in Congress. 

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