Too. And were all facing our greatest challenge. Thats why spark light is working around the clock to keep you connected. Were doing our part so its easier to d yours. Sparklight supports cspan as a Public Service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. Good evening from capitol hill. At this hour republicans are to meet behind closed doors once again to see if they can find enough votes to elect a new speaker of the house. Steve scalise nearly won a internal vote yesterday to become the republican nominee and since then has been working over holdouts who supported jim jordan of ohio. But the magic number needed on the floor is 217 votes and just how and when Steve Scalise might be able to hit that number remains unclear. Heres how long time congressional reporter lauren fox put in a tweet two hours ago. Its within nine days since Kevin Mccarthy was ousted for a job. The g. O. P. Conference gathered every day this week. Members joke jesus couldnt get the 217 votes to be their speaker, the amount of shrug emojis from sources asking whats next is too many to count. One other tweet, ben jacobs, also a congressional reporter showing this Dear Colleague letter that andy ogles had been circulating, the republican of tennessee, a freshman representing the fifth district, the Dear Colleague letter is asking fellow republicans to lock themselves in a room until theres a new speaker. Theyre to enter that room at 6 30 this evening on capitol hill, 6 30 p. M. Eastern time. As they do and as they gather, we want to hear from you this evening, your thoughts on the vacant speaker seat, to the race to be the next speaker. Heres how you can call in, republicans 2027488921. Democrats, 2027488920. All others 2027488922. You also can send us a text, 2027488903. Well also be looking on x and facebook for your comments on social media as well. As youre calling in this evening, this is the latest from this afternoon from House Majority leader Steve Scalise followed by comments from House Foreign AffairsCommittee Chairman mike mccall on what the vacant speaker seat means on the Foreign Affairs front. This is just about five minutes long. Mr. Mccaul first of all, we had a very constructive 2 1 2 hour long meeting and asked our conference stair we get everyone in a room together, not individual meetings, im not cutting any deals, i want to meet in front of all our members, answer every question and just continue to Work Together to unite and bring our conference together and address issues as they come up and obviously issues have come up over the last week about the whole process of how we get our conference back on track but then individually people have had questions and i felt it would be much better if we did it in full view where its not individually where people dont think there are side deals going on and everybody can see as republicans talking among ours what those issues are. The did news is our support the good news is our support continues to grow and were continuing to work to narrow the gap and thats going on and were going to continue the meetings. There are other members that want to meet as a group individually. If you look at the model where weve gotten big things done as a conference, and i know its easy to forget in times this like this majority produced some big wins on energy policy, border security, trying to confront all of the spending and other problems in washington that are creating inflation, driving up costs for families. Weve done it by getting groups together and we ask to convene those groups as well as individuals on the floor to deal with those before we go to the floor. Well be talking more as a Smaller Group but a Cross Section representing every swath of our conference. People obviously have different backgrounds with different passions. We for 2 1 2 hours talked through those and i took every question that everybody brought and were going to continue to go through this process as we grow our support to work towards getting this resolved and getting the house back open. Ive got to get back to work. Reporter what was the purpose . To air grievances and allow everybody to talk. Weve been doing that for a while. I was the first to speak and made the conference aware were living in a dangerous world. The worlds on fire, our adversaries are watching what we do and quite frankly, they like it. The chairman talks about how democracy doesnt work and were proving them right and we need to fill the chair with a speaker. Every day that goes by it gets more dangerous. I was on the phone with our friends from israel and theyre going to need a supplemental and aid to replenish the iron dome and they cant do that unless we have a speaker on the chair. I see threats out there but one of the biggest threats is in that room where we cant unify and put in a speaker to govern. I cant get a resolution of 416 cosponsors condemning hamas and supporting israel without a speaker in the chair. I cant get that supplemental aid to israel without a speaker in the chair. Its very dangerous what were doing. I just wanted them to know that, you know. Were playing with fire. Reporter can you give us a sense of what the tangible conversation points are in that room, not just grievances but should scalise drop out and is jim jordan in contention, some of the actual meeting. [mr. Mccaul i mean, theyre airing these grievances but at the end of the day we elected the the speaker designee and may just have to bring it to the floor and have another episode like we had with mccarthy. I dont know if hes going to get the requisite votes right now. Reporter what happens today . Mr. Mccaul i think theyll be in that room for quite some time. Reporter is it scalise or has it shifted towards congressman jordan . Mr. Mccaul jim went to the mic and reiterated his support for Steve Scalise. Hes letting his supporters go over to steve. Ive been up here 20 years and never seen anything like this. First in history, weve never seen a vacate of the chair but usually when we go to a speaker designee it goes for the floor and theres not an issue. I was just trying to make a point how dangerous this is because we cant govern without a speaker and it runs in the face of democracy itself. Reporter the israelis say let me put it this way, whats the time line under which you have to pass a supplemental . Mr. Mccaul were talking weekss. We cant drag this out any longer. Host Steve Scalise and mike mccall earlier from capitol hill. If youre watching those clips over scalise and mccalls right shoulder was the congressional reporter katherine actually mcmahon us. We heard about this meeting behind closed doors about an hour ago, is there any sort of update on that . Guest were hearing from the lawmakers on the republican side and senior staff that theyve not yet gotten an official notice of this meeting. The 6 30 time frame is looking extremely unlikely. However, it could of course be called later in the evening. But with the frustration and lack of progress that came out of the nearly threehour g. O. P. Conference meeting earlier today, i know that many members are questioning what the value of reconvening is unless people have changed their position or have a new pitch in order to get members to change their position. Host some reports were seeing some republican members are booking and catching flights home this evening, are you hearing that . Guest i have heard that but what is unclear to me is it that is closing the book on what is possible this week or if someone had a commitment and could come back during the weekend. But its very clear to me there will not be a vote to elect a speaker of the house tonight. Host in terms of the numbers we need here, 217, the magic number, where is Steve Scalise right now and how many holdouts are there and who are the toughest votes to get at this point . Katherine right now from inside the room earlier today, carson c. Womack said there were about six hardnose knows about that spoke in the meeting and those are in a camp that are kind of looking at not voting for Steve Scalise but of course scalises allies will be continuing to try to move those people, whether it is through conversations of what his leadership would look like or what would those people want to see his leadership look like to try to win them over. The hardest votes are going to be folks who want a full changing of the guard. A lot of people who are hesitant to vote for Steve Scalise see him as kind of the hair appareno Kevin Mccarthy who they were happy with but to bring on someone of the same fold fro his Leadership Team are giving those people more than pause as th are adamant a tse are going to be the toughest votes to win and right now theres more of them than republicans can stand to lose and elect anyone speaker. We were showing a graphic on some of the no votes that have been reported or said so via social media or interviews. Nancy mace, her latest post from social media saying if Steve Scalise cant get to 217 votes tonight then he should allow somebody else the chance. How likely is that for him to step aside and allow somebody else a chance and who could that other person be . Katherine no matter where you are politically, you can acknowledge Steve Scalise is a fighter coming back from being shot at the republican baseball practice a year ago and now battling cancer, he is not going to go down easy, but he is also a team player and a party player. So if i i do thinking there is a possibility that at some point, probably not tonight, maybe after a longer fight if he does not have the votes, it is possible he steps aside. But a big question that i have been posing to republicans today and many 67 republicans are asking themselves, if Steve Scalise cant get 217 votes and Kevin Mccarthy took a bruising battle to get the votes he needed to be speaker, who else in the conference could possibly be a more Unifying Force . And the names being floated around, jim jordan did not get more votes than Steve Scalise so he would have even more people he needed to bring into his camp than scalise has right now. So is that a realistic possibility . Other folks are talking about some of the most affable in their caucus to see someone who is just friendly with many people but may not be ideologically aligned could just slip in there and win enough votes but those are all long shots and the folks who are putting up the biggest fight are not just going to take a speaker who just is a nice guy. They want a speaker who will deliver a House Majority in the way they want it to be run. Host a question about two specific individuals, what is jim jordan doing when it comes to those folks who are saying theyre only jim jordan, and what has speaker Kevin Mccarthys role been in the past 24 hours . Katherine jim jordan has volunteered to give a nominating speech, excuse me, for Steve Scalise which was a Big Development to have him jump onboard and say Steve Scalise got the majority vote, i will support him on the floor, and he stood up today and encouraged the folks who wanted him to be speaker to back Steve Scalise. I think that that was a big shift and many people doubted that jim jordan, also known as a real fighter, might not back down so easiliy but he is really committed to getting his investigations back underway and all his other priorities in congress and hes willing to go with Steve Scalise. As for Kevin Mccarthy, the former speaker, he had Steve Scalise as the number two in the House Republican leadership. Theyre not known to be Close Friends or necessarily, you know, cordial to each other, but they know that sticking together makes them more powerful. Kevin mccarthy is backing Steve Scalise. He had committed to back whoever the conference shows. So whoever came out of that internal closed ballot conference vote, Kevin Mccarthy promised he would back. What is less clear right now is how much behind the scenes, phone calls, you know, arm twisting Kevin Mccarthy is doing but hes being public and loud in his support for the conferences nominee, Steve Scalise. Host well get to our viewer calls in a second, final question for you, katherine, where do you go now as a political reporter to report the story, where are you heading tonight . Katherine were waiting to see if this Conference Meeting is going to materialize. What we havent seen is what were calling right now the speakers suite because no one has true ownership of it, meetings are ongoing, so folks are going in and out to have either small group or individual meetings with Steve Scalise, maybe with the current speaker pro tempore mchenry and so we will definitely be outside that room to chat with folks as they go in and as they come out to see whether theyve changed their position or what their pitch is heading in to those meetings. Host its politico. Com where you can go to see katherine tullymcmanus and the work of her colleagues. We appreciate you so much. Now time for your phone calls asking for your reaction, your thoughts on the speakers race at this time without a speaker of the house. Heres the numbers to call in, republicans 2027488921, democrats, 2027488920, all others 2027488922. Well look for your texts and tweets and facebook posts. And this the line for democrats. Michael, good evening . Caller how are you . Host doing well. Caller id like to speak to the independents, you heard representative mccall explaining the world is on fire and one of the republicans i respect is ken buck who said he cannot vote for either scalise or jim jordan because they refuse to say that joe biden was elected properly. Until that happens, all this party has proved they cant govern and maybe were better off they cant elect a speaker until november 24th when theyre all booted out. Thanks for the attention. Host michael from arizona as we show you members entering the house on the east front of the house there. The cameras catching members going in. This is diana out of sanford, maine, democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank for you taking my call. Host whats your comment of the speakers race . Caller the speakers race, im 73. I have paid attention to politicks so much since my son who was a political journalist told me to Pay Attention. So here i am. And retired, having more time to Pay Attention and follow everything, i wish the younger people could do this, get off right wing, news max, all these channels that keep them in that bubble, but with the speakers race right now, i believe whoever is being presented to us now to vote on, i believe there from the maga, jim jordan, scalise, i believe they both are from the beginning of the time frame to, i suppose oppose democracy, period. And i think that the leaders ive seen and paid attention to, they actually are most to create and encourage chaos for us to be divided. Host i got your point. A lot of callers waiting to chat this evening. This is julie in canon city, colorado, republican line. Good evening. Caller hi. My vote is for jim jordan. I think he has been a gogetter, a fighter. Hes definitely standing up for the people. I like scalise, too, but i personally feel jim jordan deserves to have it and he would do a great job. And im sure a lot of people agree with me. So im sticking with jim jordan and hope the republicans can get it together for the country. Its urgent. Its immediate. We need to get it done. My prayer and hope is that jim jordan will get it or theyll bring mccarthy back. He was good, too. I dont know what happened there. It didnt seem fair and seemed pretty jammed through for no reason. My vote is for jim jordan and republicans do your best to get this done as quickly as possible. Thank you. 6 host julie out of colorado. A couple Text Messages from viewers as youve been watching, the viewers saying ive been watching jim jordan for years now and think hes the most talented and most trusted and honest man in congress today. This from scott in oregon. The speaker should be a moderate with skills at mediation and negotiation. Jim jordan, a former wrestler, is not that person is what scott says. One more saying the United States is in our name, not me, not them, us. We need to elect people who are willing to compromise, not own or beat the other party. A few comments via our text messaging service. Jonathan out of california, republican. Good evening. Caller yes, i just want to say ive been watching everything. Its time for whoever the holdouts are, they need to get off the pot. And do whats right for the country. Weve got way too many problems, as everyone knows. And its just not right what theyre doing. Host jonathan, is electing Steve Scalise whats right for the country now . Caller Steve Scalise, jim jordan, i thought mccarthy was fine and i am known for being hard line but the republicans need to get together, the ones holding out. Its just wrong. Its stupid. Host what do you mean youre in favor of being hard line, jonathan. Caller the leadership in our country is wrong, everything is wrong. Weve got 20 guys holding up the boat. Thats wrong. Thats what i have to say and thank you very much. Host jonathan in california. To arizona, this is anthony, sierra vista, democrat. Go ahead. Caller hey, thanks, cspan. Cspan 60, calling every 60 days. John, you work, right, and you have a job. Well, most people dont know the difference between the two. Work is something we can easily do, each one of us. Getting others to work with us is the job. And thats what we have right now. If those two individuals, representative Steve Scalise and representative jim jordan cannot get the votes, they need to withdraw and they need to let their conference put someone else forward. Host i want to hear from all our viewers, the numbers to call in 2027488921 for republicans and democrats, 2027488920 and all others it 027488922. About six or seven more minutes of this conversation. Thats because at 6 45 p. M. Eastern were going to take you here on cspan to the steps of the United States capitol hill. A number of lawmakers are preparing to hold a vigil this evening for israel and well have live coverage of that. Theyre expected to gather at that podium as the sun sets here in washington, d. C. Taking your phone calls for witx minutes ago and want to keep up with the latest from the capitol hill reporters and a reporter from fox said Steve Scalise has an uphill battle to go and will be difficult and a decision has to be made soon because we cant vote. Mccarthy gives tacit support to the idea of allowing interim speaker pro tempore mchenry to have enhanced temporary powers in that role as speaker pro tempore. Scott wong, political reporter, after three hours of meeting with holdouts and others, Steve Scalise hasnt moved the needle at all and he doesnt have the votes, its unclear what the next steps are, members are getting antcy. Thats from the political reporters who have been scrambling with this story for nine days or so. We want to hear you on the line. Derrick from all others line out of california. Good evening. Caller im a lifelong republican but this Republican Party does not represent i think what the majority of who the republicans are. The reason scalise cant get the votes and jordan cant get the votes is because they dont represent what the people want. Mccarthy was a much better negotiator to get people to go with him and whatnot and that ended up shooting him in the foot and he was willing to kowtow to everybody, even the extreme. And the republicans dont have anybody that will garner enough votes to be representative of what the people want. Host what is it the people want . Caller i think the Republican Party has gone too far to the right. I think theyve become too extreme and people want to get back to business. People want the Republican Party that is about jobs and the stock market, about whitecollar jobs and building up the middle class and getting away from guns and abortion and all the emotional issues they try to get everybody riled up about. Host thats derrick out of california. This is stephanie, brooklyn, new york, line for democrats. Good evening. Caller how are you today . Host doing well. Go ahead. Caller all right. The problem with the republicans is that they dont know how to govern. They dont know how to govern. They dont know how to get together, bring policies together, bring folks together. All they want to do is have grievances. Its terrible we dont have a speaker of the house. You know whats going to happen . I want them to go on the floor and make these votes. Once they get these votes in, Hakeem Jeffries is going to end up becoming speaker of the house because the way theyre going, its going to be a democrat thats going to be the speaker of the house because they dont want to govern. Host stephanie out of brooklyn. Cheryl from manassas, virginia, line for democrats. Go ahead. Caller thank you for taking my call. Im going to bounce off of what the previous speaker just said. The republicans dont know how to govern. They want to burn everything down because theyve got a corrupt leader. If we could get four moderate republicans to vote for Hakeem Jeffries, then we could get done what needs to be done in this country. Our caucus is 100 in step with a speaker who has a proven track record of getting things done. And what you have on the other side is a clown show. Host cheryl out of manassas, virginia. A few more of your Text Messages this evening. This is one of you saying i favor Steve Scalise over jim jordan because jordan is representing trump. We do not want that at congress. We need a speaker to focus on e wellbeing of the American People and not on trump. This text messagsaying the republicans cant get it together. Theyre not thinking abouthe American People, theyre thinking with what will be best for them and them only. This is no longer a republican form of government a reputable form of government, how can they govern if they nt govern themselves . Jim jordan isnt the answer and neither is Steve Scalise. If thats their best options, weve got some serious problems. One more from adam in south florida. Im a lifelong democrat. Put came lease in there, hell be able to get the job done and keep the government open. One more call here from ashton, west virginia, independent. This is carol. Good evening, carol. Caller good evening. Im disappointed in both parties. Neither party wants to get along with the other party. Ive watched the republicans little chaotic adventure here. And ive watched the democrats chaotic adventures of never getting along, never helping the republicans vote on anything, just like the republicans dont help the democrats vote on anything. So its not one party. Its both parties. Both parties need to grow up, act like adults and do something for the people instead of just setting there waiting on a paycheck because whats going to happen is its been happening that way for years is theyll keep kicking the can down the road and Neither Party is going to face the issues that really need to be dealt with. Thank you. Have a good evening. Host carol in ashton, west rg