Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene explained why she will vote for House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan over House Majority Leader Steve Scalise for speaker of the House, in an exclusive phone call with the Daily Caller.
Right after House Republicans nominated Scalise to be the next speaker of the House by a margin of 113 of the 212 votes cast in a secret ballot vote, Greene explained why she would be voting for Jordan on the House floor over Scalise, saying although she likes Scalise, she believes his cancer diagnosis could be an issue.
“Well, several reasons and I’ll start with the cancer issue and I say this with extreme compassion. My father died in April of 2021 with cancer. And so I know cancer is the toughest battle of anybody’s life and we all know Steve Scalise is a really tough guy. He survived being shot by a radical Democrat on the baseball field so we know he’s a fighter but this is a fight that he needs to engage in and that’s beating cancer. Speaker of the House is the hardest job in Congress. It’s very demanding, and requires travel all over the country, fundraising for the conference to keep the majority as well as being the lead leader and an executive position,” Greene told the Caller.
“Managing the entire House of Representatives and the Republican conference. I really like Steve Scalise, and I care about him and his wife and his kids. I think now is the time to put his full energy and effort into beating cancer. I say that out of pure compassion and caring for him — Jim Jordan is ready for this fight. He has passionately told the entire conference his plans. He’s also proven in being the Chairman of Judiciary fighting against the Democrats from the Russia hoax, you know, too many different — different fights that he’s had over the years with Democrats and he’s a conservative,” she continued.
“I think Jim Jordan is the man for the hour. I had also obviously supported Kevin McCarthy and I wasn’t part of his House scene last week. That’s thrown us into the chaos of where we are now. But if we’re going to elect a new speaker, I’m going to engage myself in every way I can to elect the right speaker of the House because the situation that we’re in as Americans is very grave. The border — we’ve got 1.5 million got-aways and we don’t know how many of them are terrorists. And there’s Intel and reports that America could see a terrorist attack. Right here at home. And after what we’ve watched in Israel, I think that’s something that should terrify every single American and I think it does,” Greene added.
I just voted for Jim Jordan for Speaker on a private ballot in conference, and I will be voting for Jim Jordan on the House floor.
I like Steve Scalise, and I like him so much that I want to see him defeat cancer more than sacrifice his health in the most difficult position in…
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) October 11, 2023
“Also with the spending that’s happened under the Biden administration, has driven inflation and we’re on the verge of a recession that’s looming in the next year. So we need a speaker of the House that’s willing to enable, to put their full energy, their full effort into this fight against the Democrats. And that’s why I’m voting for Jim Jordan.” (RELATED: House Republicans Nominate Steve Scalise For Speaker In Secret Ballot Vote)
Behind closed doors, House Republicans debated who should lead their caucus, as the party was not unified behind a candidate before the meeting. Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, who received the other 99 votes, is also seeking the gavel, while recently ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy had support from several members but told colleagues not to re-nominate him. (RELATED: MTG Shows How Easy It Would Have Been For Bowman Not To Pull The Fire Alarm)
The final vote was 113 for Scalise and 99 votes for Jordan. Scalise will now need 217 votes on the floor to be elected speaker of the House.