In the American Congress, Trumpist Jim Jordan misses the boat – L’Express

Jim Jordan, the only candidate in the running, was unable to obtain the support of a sufficient number of his peers. Judging his positions to be too extreme, twenty Republican elected officials voted against the candidacy of this far from consensual profile.

And for good reason, since his election to Congress in 2006, Jim Jordan has been rather discreet. Having never managed to pass a bill in his name, he is regularly considered to be one of the least productive elected officials in the House.

For many, his inauguration as a candidate is only the result of a succession of internal tears in the Republican party, paralyzed by internal struggles between moderates and Donald Trump’s supporters. The elected representative of the conservative right Matt Gaetz had, for example, tabled and voted on at the end of September a motion of censure against a speaker belonging to his own persuasion.

Ranked behind the candidacy of their leader Hakeem Jeffries, whom they did not manage to elect for lack of sufficient votes, the Democrats for their part reproach the ambiguous positioning of Jim Jordan on the 2020 presidential election, an election that Donald Trump still qualifies, without proof, as “stolen”.

If the elected official from Ohio intends to maintain his candidacy, everything suggests that his election will not be easier than that of his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, elected after fifteen rounds. For now, the Congress is suspended for the second round, expected this Wednesday late morning.

Here again, the stakes are high. The additional period of 45 days, obtained following an agreement between Republicans and Democrats to avoid depriving the world’s largest economy of its administration, still runs. And the threat of a “shutdown” is getting closer. Especially since the question of financing the war in Ukraine, which led to the dismissal of Kevin McCarthy, is still not resolved.

While Democratic President Joe Biden has promised his Ukrainian counterpart the delivery of weapons and the maintenance of aid sent to Kiev, several Trumpist elected officials are bracing themselves, refusing to release new spending intended for Ukraine. However, if the two camps cannot reach an agreement after 45 days, the country will have to face administrative paralysis. This, regardless of which speaker is ultimately elected.

Especially since the Ukrainian conflict was joined by a new war triggered by the surprise attack by Hamas on October 7. Since then, senators with a Democratic majority have been busy preparing an envelope to help Israel.

According to the first statements by the Democratic leader in the Senate Chuck Schumer, it will contain “military, diplomatic, humanitarian and intelligence aid, all things that Israel needs”. And to hope to have it adopted “in the coming weeks”. It therefore remains to be seen which Republicans or Democrats will give in to succeed in giving the world’s leading economic power a budget, and thus avoid a new shutdown.