Name: Scalise announces his bid for house speaker; a vote is expected next week
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Scalise announces his bid for house speaker; a vote is expected next week

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Skip to contentNEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - He has the second most powerful position in the U.S. House of Representatives and now Louisianan and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is running for the top job: House Speaker.The day after the House ousted Kevin McCarthy from the speakership post Scalise sent a two-page letter to the House Republican Conference announcing he is running for the position and asking for his fellow House Republicans’ support.Robert Collins, Ph.D. worked on Capitol Hill for years and is a Dillard University political analyst.“This is not a surprise. Steve Scalise is the Majority Leader, he’s second in command, he has support within the House, so I think a lot of people expected him to throw his hat in the ring,” said Collins.Republicans hold a slight majority in the House.Scalise wrote in his letter, ” Now, more than ever, we must mend the deep wounds that exist within our Conference and focus on our objectives…You know my leadership style I’ve displayed as your Majority Leader and Whip. I have a proven track record of bringing together the diverse array of viewpoints within our Conference to build consensus where others thought it impossible.”Scalise survived being shot in 2017 and now is battling blood cancer.On Tuesday, after McCarthy’s ouster, he was asked how he was faring.“I feel great,” said Scalise.RELATED STORIESScalise announces he will run for House SpeakerVote to oust Speaker McCarthy splits Louisiana’s congressional delegationHis letter to fellow GOP congressmen also said, “God already gave me another chance at life. I believe we were all put here for a purpose. This next chapter won’t be easy, but I know what it takes to fight, and I am prepared for the battles that lie ahead. I humbly ask you for your support on this mission to be your Speaker of the House.”Collins thinks fellow Republicans may have questions for Scalise away from the glare of TV cameras.“We’ve already seen people ask him about that, now of course, he says that he feels great, that’s what he’s been saying publicly but there certainly will be an undercurrent there,” said Collins.But Collins added Scalise is already doing a high-stress job as majority leader.“To be fair to Congressman Scalise he already has a stressful job, he’s already Majority Leader, simply being in Congress is stressful, being Majority Leader and having to whip votes is stressful but there’s nothing like the stress of being speaker of the House, there’s nothing like the stress of being third in line to the presidency,” said Collins. “So I think some of the members of the conference are going to approach him privately and say, do you really want this?”Scalise represents Louisiana’s first congressional district, the same district former Congressman Bob Livingston represented for over 20 years.“I’m for Steve all the way,” said Livingston.Livingston who was voted House Speaker-designate by his fellow Republicans in 1998 resigned soon after.Meanwhile, Scalise was not the only high-profile Republican to put out a letter Tuesday announcing his candidacy for House Speaker, so did Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.Collins expects others to run for the job too but noted the matchup between Scalise and Jordan.“What’s going to be interesting in the race so far is between Scalise and Jordan is that here we have Scalise who’s a traditionalist and institutionalist, obviously is majority leader, been around for a long time and here we have Jim Jordan who’s known as a rabble-rouser, he likes to hold hearings, he likes to investigate the executive branch,” said Collins. “So, you already have very different styles of members of Congress that they’re going to have to pick from, so the contrast between them is going to be very interesting when they start making their arguments to the Republican Caucus.Scalise was loyal to McCarthy, speaking in favor of him on the House floor before the consequential vote and also during a FOX 8 interview just days after McCarthy finally won after 15 votes. Then he talked about the speculation that he would step in and run for the speakership because McCarthy was having difficulty obtaining the position.“You know, obviously, there was a lot of talk about that and you know at the end of the day I had said early off that I supported Kevin McCarthy, and as long as he was in the mix I was helping him to address the problems that our members had to get there and you know he did get there,” said Scalise.Collins says now that McCarthy is out of the picture Scalise can run for the job.“McCarthy is no longer a factor, it’s anyone’s office now, it’s an open office, anyone can run,” he said.Collins was asked whether Scalise or any other Republican chosen by the Republican Conference should ask for the end to the rule that one person can make a motion to vacate the speakership.“Yes, I think it would be smart to ask for repeal of that rule because as long as that rule is there the members of the Freedom Caucus are going to sort of use that as a threat to anyone who’s the speaker,” said Collins.It is expected that Republicans will meet on Tuesday to choose the speaker-elect and that would be followed by a vote by all members of the House. (See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.Subscribe to the Fox 8 YouTube channel.Copyright 2023 WVUE. All rights reserved.

Skip to contentNEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - He has the second most powerful position in the U.S. House of Representatives and now Louisianan and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is running for the top job: House Speaker.The day after the House ousted Kevin McCarthy from the speakership post Scalise sent a two-page letter to the House Republican Conference announcing he is running for the position and asking for his fellow House Republicans’ support.Robert Collins, Ph.D. worked on Capitol Hill for years and is a Dillard University political analyst.“This is not a surprise. Steve Scalise is the...

Scalise announces his bid for house speaker; a vote is expected next week

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