Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) says that Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) is playing a big role in preventing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) from becoming the next speaker.
Accordingly, Banks has told Breitbart News, in an exclusive interview, that Granger ought to lose her position as head of the House Appropriations Committee.
The U.S. House of Representatives is still without a true speaker, following the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Currently, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) is acting as the speaker pro tempore until a new speaker is chosen.
At the moment, Jordan is the frontrunner to become the next speaker. But, he is struggling to get over the line. Two votes have already been held, and Jordan came up short both times.
Republicans in the House do in fact have all the votes that they need to select the speaker of their choice. But, thus far, they have refused to come together behind a candidate.
Jordan could lose a few Republican votes and still have enough votes to become Speaker. But, at the moment, there are roughly 20 holdouts, including Granger.
Banks told Breitbart that one of the problems with Granger voting against a Jordan speakership is that she is causing other Republican members of her committee to do the same.
"She’s leading a bunch of members on her committee to block the conservative and the majority’s choice to be the Speaker of the House. It is totally shameful. And I hope every Republican voter in their districts wake up and vote against them in their primaries," Banks said.
For those unfamiliar with Granger, the 80-year-old was first elected to the House in 1996, and, since 2019, she has been the top House Republican appropriator. She currently sits atop the powerful appropriations committee, and her power is demonstrated by the fact that all eight members of the committee have voted against a Jordan speakership.
Banks told Breitbart, "Kay Granger doesn’t deserve to be chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee. She’s blocking the most fiscally conservative choice we’ve ever had to be the Speaker of the House. And, she should lose her gavel for that."
To further put things into perspective, Granger wants McHenry to become the next speaker, and in order for that to happen, help from House Democrats would be required.
It appears that Jordan is going to continue to talk with the holdouts to see if he can get enough support to hold a third vote and to become the next speaker of the House.
Whether Jordan will be able to get enough House Republicans to change their minds, however, remains unclear.
If Jordan's bid does fail, then he said that he will be in favor of extending McHenry's stay as speaker pro tempore until January.
