House GOP grasps for answers to speaker vacuum

House Republicans huddled for more than two hours Thursday but walked away without a game plan for electing a new speaker, as members voiced growing frustration and anger with their inability to govern.

One day after nominating Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana by secret ballot, members of both sides of the fractious Republican conference said they saw no path to finding a candidate who could win a majority vote in the closely divided House, assuming united Democratic opposition.

“We don’t see the light at the end of that tunnel,” said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark. “That’s a mirage right now. There are very strong divisions and people willing to acknowledge they are not in Scalise’s camp standing just a few feet from him.”

After the conference meeting, Scalise convened a smaller group meeting with a cross-section of members from the GOP “five families,” factions representing different ideological wings of the conference ranging from the Freedom Caucus to the Problem Solvers Caucus, as well as lawmakers who’ve voiced opposition to Scalise.

Among those seen entering the meeting were Freedom Caucus members Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., and Bob Good, R-Va., who continue to support Rep. Jim Jordan’s bid and have committed to opposing Scalise on the floor, at least for now. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., another Scalise critic, was also seen going into the meeting.