Republican Scalise struggles for votes after winning US House speaker nomination

Steve Scalise, the Republican nominee to lead the U.S. House of Representatives, faces a test on Thursday of whether he could gain enough support from his splintered party conference to be elected speaker on the chamber floor.

A day after he bested House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan for the nomination in a secret party ballot, the Louisiana Republican had not yet proven whether he could muster the 217 Republican votes needed to overcome Democratic opposition and be elected to the role second in line to the presidency, after the vice president.

"When we go to the floor, there'll be at least a relatively high expectation on the part of Steve Scalise and his team that he's got the votes," said Representative John Duarte, a Scalise supporter.

Republican leaders initially scheduled a House meeting for Wednesday afternoon, should Scalise, now the No. 2 House Republican, quickly come up with the votes for election. But no vote was held.

The inability of the House to act on legislation without a speaker added a sense of urgency, as Republicans faced pressure to act in support of Israel's war against Palestinian militants of Hamas and restart government funding legislation while Congress neared a new shutdown deadline on Nov. 17.