McCaul on urgency of Speaker votes amid Israel-Hamas war: ‘It’s not a time to be playing games’

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) urged his Republican colleagues to go through with voting for a new House Speaker quickly, so the body can focus on important legislation like support for Israel amid its escalating war against Hamas in Gaza.

“We don’t want to go through the 15 rounds of ballots like we did last time. So what we’re trying to do is make sure we have 217 before we even go to the floor, and that’s what’s being negotiated,” the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman said in a CBS News interview Wednesday.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) won a tightly contested Speaker vote in the GOP caucus earlier Wednesday against Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Scalise must now persuade holdouts to back him before a vote can pass the floor.

“Jim Jordan has agreed to support Steve as Speaker, and I think right now they’re doing a whip count,” McCaul said. “So it could be later tonight. It could be tomorrow. I hope it’s as soon as possible, because as you know, the world is becoming more dangerous. And we need to govern.”

“You know, we need a Speaker, the chair to govern for the American people and get the people’s business done,” McCaul added. “It’s not a time to be playing games anymore. And we need all the adults in the room [to] step forward.”

About a half dozen Republicans have said they will not back Scalise, with some of them pledging to back Jordan instead, despite Jordan’s own decision to back Scalise.

The first order of business when the House has a Speaker, McCaul said, is his bill pledging U.S. support for Israel.

“[Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.)], my ranking member, we introduced a resolution that will be the first bill after the Speaker is instated, a resolution condemning Hamas and supporting Israel. And that’s a bipartisan resolution, we have 416 co-sponsors,” he said.