House GOP’s agenda, ready to go, is sidelined until Republicans can agree on new speaker

House Republicans know where they want to lead the country, even if they don’t know who their leader will be.

As Washington was captivated by Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s struggles to become House speaker, lawmakers were chafing to get on with the business of passing bills and teed up a dynamic list of targets, including abortion, border security and China policy.

First up is a bill to claw back tens of billions of dollars from the IRS by reversing part of Democrats’ climate spending legislation from the summer.

Republicans then want to puncture the “defund the police” movement, require the FBI to rat out illegal immigrants who try to buy guns and grant legal protections to any infant born alive — including after botched abortions.

Only Republicans haven’t figured out who will lead them through the process.