GOP moves closer to electing Rep. Scalise as next House speaker
Lisa Desjardins:
OK, let's break this down.
Right now, we are waiting to see if Steve Scalise can clinch that majority that he needs in the full House. Let's talk a little bit. Let's look at the numbers specifically. To get the majority in the House of Representatives right now with two vacancies, you need somewhere between 215 and 217 votes.
That's including absences, which we usually do have a few of. Now, who — Scalise got 113 votes in conference today, but here's something important about that number. That included the votes from three delegates from U.S. territories. They can vote in the Republican Conference. They cannot vote on the floor of the House.
So, when you add it all up, Geoff, where we are for Mr. Scalise is that he actually did not get a majority of the members of his conference who can vote. And he is far way away from being sure that he has the majority of the House itself.
I think the more important number probably, though, is the number that we are getting of people who say they will not vote for him on the first ballot. It is beginning to be a larger group. I think producer Kyle Midura and I have counted five or six. Other people say it's as high as 20.
And we — as we know, Mr. Scalise can only lose four votes from Republicans and actually become speaker. Right now, he certainly has more than that who say they will not vote for him.
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