california has received one. the honorable tom emmer of the state of minnesota has received one. the honorable tom cole of the state of oklahoma has received one. the honorable thomas massie of the state of kentucky has received one. no person having received a majority, the whole number of votes cast by surname, a speaker's not been elected. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess subject to the call of the chair.

s as this body convenes for the sacred responsibility of electing the speaker of the

house i'm reminded of the book ofest they are, for such a time as this. jim jordan will be the american speaker for such a time as this. when families are not able to afford heat or gas because of the millions and millions of dollars of spend big a far left government. a time when millions are being trafficked across our because of the trillions and trillions of reckless spending by failed far left governments. a time when millions are being illegally taken across borders. a time when violent crime is skyrocketing across america. and destroying our great cities, subis yourself and small towns.

a time when american energy production has been crushed by joe biden's radical far left policies causing seniors and families to pay more at the pump and struggle with skyrocketing a time when the federal government is weaponized against we the people who they are supposed to serve. stripping us of our god given constitutional rights and wrongfully targeting conservatives, catholics, and even parents at school board meetings. and a time when our close ally suffered the bloodiest day with acts of inhumane evil backed by iran.

grotesque atrocities, rapes and slaughter of women, children and the elderly. israelis and americans taken hostage. we are here in this very chamber for such a time as this. jim jordan will be we the people's speaker for such is a time as this. our friend and colleague jim jordan is a patriot and a america first warrior who wins the toughest of fights, going after corruption and delivering accountability at the highest levels of government on behalf of we, the people. jim is the voice of the american people who felt voiceless for far too long. whether as judiciary chair or leader for his constituents in western ohio, whether on the wrestling mat or in the committee room. many of our colleagues support jim jordan, when prime minister netanyahu

gave the address which some across the aisle boycotted. and he pointed out we serve under the watchful gaze of moses and said, quote, overlooking all of us in this chamber is the image of moses and before the people of israel entered the land of israel, moses gave us a message that sealed our resolve for thousands of years, be strong and resolute, neither fear nor dread them and went on to say my friends, may we always stand together strong and resolute, may we neither fear nor dread the challenges ahead and may we face the future with confidence, strength and hope, end quote. on behalf of the american people, let's face the future with confidence, strength and hope. let's elect jim jordan for speaker of our people's house for such a time as this. i yield back.

host: elice stefanik of new york. jim jordan was not elected speaker on that first ballot. falling 17 votes short, some 17 republicans voting against jim jordan. democratic nominee hakeem jeffries earning more votes than the nominee of the majority party. we get your reactions. republicans 202-748-8921, democrats 202-748-8920, others 202-748-8922. we begin with the republican line, caroline from tallahassee, florida. caller: i could just cry. i am so upset with the 20 people that did not -- for our country -- actually betraying

the american people. i cried. please, please get -- host: caroline, you're going in and out there. a call from new york. caller: i'm calling to say i think the democrats should use this chance as speaker of the house. host: do you think she'll get enough republicans to add to democratic support to win the speaker ships? we'll go to jordan in hollywood, florida, line for democrats. go ahead. caller: at a time when the middle east is having issues, at

a time when europe is having issue, this is not the time where people need to occupy the house and then the time when america needs to step. in i said this back last year when we were trying to elect a speaker of the house. jeffries and the democrats stood tall. in cases like this it needs to be the majority vote. the democrats have continued to show 100% support for jeffries. and i think at the end of this it should be hakeem jeffries as next speaker of the house so we can start getting things done, bills passed and funding for israel and ukraine. host: that's jordan in florida. this is jeannie in austin, texas. go ahead. caller: hi. i voted for joe biden. will not be voting for him again. i'm a registered democrat. i do not want jeffries to get it because i feel like anything democrats touch just turns sour.

this is crazy. you know, we're not happy here, the democrats in texas. austin, texas. i'm mexican, my family is mexican and we are, you know, we have always been democrat and now everyone is like no way. it's too ugly. do not want jeffries. host: gabe in stillwater, minnesota, republican, your thoughts on this first round of voting for speaker. caller: i got jim jordan. caller: that's gabe. this is lisa in winston-salem, north carolina. independent. go ahead. caller: yes, i believe the u.s. is more divided than it's ever been before. we must unite now. i believe this type of infighting that's happening in our own government even trying to get a speaker of the house in

place, i think this type of infighting is part of the reason that hamas was able to ambush and slaughter the people of israel. the united states need to tissue needs to unite now. the same thing could happen in to the any of us if we don't come together now. host: is there somebody you think could unite the 432 individuals in that chamber today in the house of representatives? caller: honestly, i don't know if any one person could do it. i think that the fracture is so deep right now. it's more about who is on my side and -- who, you know who is doing this, who is doing that. the problem is, we're not looking at the country, we're not looking at each other, we're not looking at our needs. we're looking at our own personal feelings. personal feelings against each other. we need to come together as a country. we've been divided before. when it mattered, we came

together as a country to do what was best. for not just our country but the world. with eneed to unite now. host: that's lisa,s the rain, charlotte, north carolina, line for democrats. caller: good afternoon. i'm calling because i'm wondering why it was a foregone conclusion, excuse me, even before the vote started, that it was not going -- we were not going to get a speaker? all of the infighting, just like lisa said, we have -- i don't know how this country has become so divided. we are more -- i'm 81 years old and i have never seen so much division, even when we, the people, were out marching to get human rights, civil rights. it was not that much division or

it was not evident. put it like that, it was not that evident. i think that what we need to do is to begin to put country first. the young woman who said she voted for biden and she would never vote for a democrat again. has she forgotten that when biden came into office, that we were in the midst of covid crisis. we had thousands of people dying. the country was almost bankrupt. joe biden did what he could but no one person can do anything. what we need to do is, since we are going to quote the bible, we quoting the old scriptures, esther and moses like the young woman who nominated jim jordan, let's quote christ scriptures that says, love your neighbor as you love yourself. and when we begin to do that,

perhaps this country can begin the healing process. we need to start loving our neighbor. and that doesn't mean your next door neighbor. it means loving people in general. i mean come on now. what's wrong with people. everybody is -- i can ride down the street, i'm afraid to go to the doctor anymore because people are going down the street here in charlotte. for no reason. host: elaine in charlotte, north carolina. jim jordan achieving just 200 votes on the floor of the house. hakeem jeffries, the democratic nominee, with 212. 20 republicans voting for someone else besides jim jordan. six of those republicans voting for former speaker mccarthy. seven of them voting for steve scalise, the majority leader in the house, and the man who was the nominee last week before withdrawing his name.

and then seven other republicans voting for other members of the house. olivia beavers of politico with a list of the republicans who voted for someone other than jim jordan. they include congressman bacon, chavez-deremer, diaz-balart, ellzey, garbarino, granger and kelly. kiggans, lalota, lawler, rutherford, simpson, womack, buck, james, lamalfa and congresswoman spartz of indiana to round out the list. olivia beavers also reportg that she talked to one house member who said that tt member personally knows five members who will change their vote from yes to jordan to no in a second round. olivia beavers. patty from mansfield next,

republican, good afternoon. caller: hello, can you hear me? host: i can. what's your thoughts on this first round of voting. caller: oh, john. it's just embarrassing to me. it's just embarrassing to me. i watched this man for years and years. this is when it started getting kind of shaky but you know as a republican, he -- he screeches, he screams, he's -- he throws fits. it's embarrassing watching his may haver. in hearings, with other members. he's never even passed legislation in the house. not even talking about, not passing anything into law. he has accused of covering up sexual abuse. of wrestlers that were under his charge. he wasn't the head coach, i know that. but he's been accused of that.

that didn't come up. i have to say when elise stefanik mentioning wrestling when she gave her speech knowledge nateing him. host: you're talking about the story when he was assistant coach back in ohio, he and his office have denied knowing anything about it. caller: i know he's always denied it, what else would you do? but the wrestlers themselveses have come forward and spoken quite clearly. besides all of that, you know, he's elected in -- my sister has lived in his district for a while and our whole family, you know, has conversations about this. mostly republicans. but one of the things they don't understand is, when people like him have caused such division, not just, you know, people talk

about dividing family, we have a hard time. friends. it used to be like a republican, you know, get togethers. we'd have a picnic every year and different things. but you can't even do that anymore because if you're not a radical, rabid, person like jim jordan and mr. trump, and matt gaetz, if you're not a screamer if you don't support that, people who just want to break things, not fix things, people who want to stir up fear and anger, we can't even have those picnics anymore. it used to be one crazy uncle would show up. it's just -- he supports and represents that. and so that's why i personally am just absolutely embarrassed. there are good people there. we have solid reps that are moderate. that would work together with

republicans, and hopefully, i don't know if they can really bring them together, you look back over the past 10 years. but there are decent people. they had kevin mccarthy in there. i'm not a huge fan but i liked him. he did pull things together. he actually got the votes to keep us from going over the edge. host: patty in pennsylvania. these are the phone lines for republican, democrats and others. i want to show you the other nomination speech that took place on the floor of the house ad of the first round of voting. california democratic congressman pete aguilar making his pitch for the democratic nominee, the democratic leader in the house, hakeem jeffries of new york.

mr. aguilar: by direct of the democratic caucus i'm directed to nominate the honorable hakeem jeffries from the state of new york. mr. speaker pro tem, this is not the history we wanted to make here in the house. it's something that none of us imagined when we were sworn in to this office. we are here because the house has been thrown into chaos. we are here because this hallowed chamber has been led to a breaking point by two dangerous forces. extremism and partisanship. the american people placed their faith in us to tackle their most pressing issues, lowering costs, growing the middle class and standing up to those set on

delivering a national abortion ban. the choice before us is simple. come together on a bipartisan path forward, or take us over the cliff. abandon the extremism that's preventing us from getting things done or triple down on division and dysfunction. a vote today to make the architect of the nationwide abortion ban, a vocal election denier, and an insurrection insider to the speaker of this house would be a terrible message to the country and our allies. mr. speaker, it would send an even more troubling message to our enemies. the very people seeking to

undermine democracy are we re-warded with positions of immense power. we are talking about someone who spent his entire career to hold our country back. attempting government shutdown after government shutdown. wasting taxpayer dollars on baseless investigations with dead ends. awe forking the very bill that would ban abortion nationwide without exceptions. and inciting violence on this chamber. even leaders of his own party have called him a legislative terrorist. he once said, quote, i didn't come to congress to make more laws. his words speak for themselves. what new yorkers recovering from hurricane sandy needed congress to act, he said no. when wildfires ravaged the west, destroying homes and businesses and those residents needed disaster assistance, he said no. when the mississippi river floods deaf stating the south and communities across state lines needed congress to act, he

said no. when our veterans were suffering from disease and dying as a result of their service to our country and congress passed a bipartisan solution, he said no. when our ally in ukraine looked to congress for additional support to help defeat putin, he said no. and just before hamas' brutal terrorist attack on israel, he said no to fully funding military aid for our ally. this body is debating elevating a speaker nominee who has not passed a single bell in 16 years. these are not the actions -- these are not the actions of someone interested in governing or bettering the lives of everyday americans. this is nothing less than the rejection of the oath that we swore to uphold as duly elected members of this body. but, on this side of the aisle,

and throughout this chamber, i'm convinced our oath still matters. to fulfill our obligations to the american people we have no choice today but to vote for a leader of both character and conviction. when congress first began, we proudly stood next to him as our leader and made a promise turnover american. house democrats would work to find common ground on the issues that matter most to the american people, whenever possible. that we would stand up to extremism, whenever necessary. only hakeem jeffries can be trusted to keep his word. only hakeem jeffries can lead us out of chaos and toward a path of governance. it brings me immense pride to nominate our friend, hakeem jeffries, as speaker.

i'm not done yet. [applause] he may just be the candidate with the most votes, but he is also the candidate with the most credibility. if the goal is to continue a 30-year march to hollow out our democratic institution, weaken our dmok saind embolden extremists, there's a candidate for you. if the goal is to continue taking marching orders from a twice-impeached former president with more than 90 pending felony charge, then there is a candidate for you. the world is watching, mr. speaker pro tem. our allies in ukraine and israel are watching. and waiting. so let's -- so let's have this vote but let's be clear. a vote for the gentleman from ohio is a vote to turn your back on national security.

it's a vote to turn your back on a bipartisan path to fund the government and avoid shutdowns. something we can only do if we reject his nomination. house democrats are in the minority. we realize that. if house republicans wanted to elect a speaker without us they could have. there is still a path forward for both democrats and republicans to come together to elect a speaker who can unite us mind a common purpose. keeping the government open on a bipartisan compromise that won more than 300 votes just four months ago in this chamber. taking an up or down vote on help so israel can defeat hamas. and ukraine can defeat putin. and reassuring the american people that their legislators have their backs. it's that simple, mr. speaker. and we can do it today. let's work together, let's elect a speaker who will reach out a hand of bipartisanship and deliver for the american people. that's why once again, mr. speaker pro tem, i'm proud

to nominate hakeem jeffries for speaker. i yield back. [applause] host: california earlier today nominating hakeem jeffries, the democratic leader, to be speaker. as you saw earlier, the no candidate received enough votes -- no candidate received enough votes to become speaker. we are now 14 days without a speaker of the house. jim jordan fall 20g votes short of what he needed. 200 republicans voting for him. all 212 democrats voting for hakeem jeffries. many republicans voting for others like kevin mccarthy, steve scalise, etc. we're getting your reaction to how this unfolded today on the house floor. robert, naples, florida. hi, robert. caller: hi, how are you today. i was surprised, i was glad to hear that mario diaz-balart, he's my representative, was mentioned. he would make a fine speaker of

the house. jim jordan is a firebrand, always has been. never passed a bill. is a member of the college of trump. i and as soon as we get that out america will function properly again. host: what do you think the party does at this juncture? they've recessed subject to the call of the chair. they could have gone for a second round of voting but you know, jim jordan decided not to do that. so now what? what do you think they should do? caller: i think jim jordan's hypocrisy only goes so far as they say in tombstone, doc holliday. they have to regroup. hopefully mario diaz-balart and i'm sure he'll win on the first vote. host: all right. mario diaz-balart voting for kevin mccarthy in that first round of voting earlier this afternoon. gavin in louisiana. democratic caller. hi. caller: how are you? host: doing well. your reaction. caller: this is 14 days without

a house speaker. everyone at home is watching. this is when they need to put extremists in the -- this is what happens when you put extremists in the house of representatives. because they have elected an extreme member of their caucus. those 20 republicans wouldn't vote for him. host: all right, gavin. christopher in kentucky. republican. caller: yes, i was calling y'all just to say this, that i believe that instead of the republicans and democrats, you know,

nominating two different people for -- to be speaker, i think it should be, you know, we the people that should be electing the house speaker just like we elect the president. host: how do you think that would work? caller: well, i'm -- i'm not too sure but i do female that very strongly. because the republicans cannot, you know, get their stuff together to even elect a house speaker. host: it's been, as we said, two weeks without a house speaker for the u.s. house of representatives. two weeks ago, eight republicans voted to ouster kevin mccarthy from that top post. today, 20 republicans voted against jim jordan getting that spot. tina in mansfield, texas. hi, tee nasm. caller: hello. i just wanted to say number one,

i want to thank my representative, jake ellzey for not voting for jim jordan. ok. that restored my faith in politics. number two, i don't know how jim jordan is even a congressman, much less anywhere near the speaker's seat. i heard the caller before state that there was credible evidence against him, stating that his failure to report sexual abuse while he was at ohio state that. is very credible evidence. ok. the other thing too. for people to remember. jordan asked for pardon from trump before he left. you don't ask for a pardon unless you've been involved in something that is illegal and you know it is illegal. he's confrontational. he's never passed a bit of legislation. the fact that he voted against our veterans i find extremely

abhorrent considering what -- one, what -- i can't think of the word right now, doggoneit. but the people from the burn pits. what kind of fatalities their families and everyone else has experienced. i think jim jordan is a disgrace to our country and the fact that any republican would vote to put him in a position of speaker of the house is just unforgivable in my estimation. host: tina, you noted at the top that jake ellzey, texas republican in the sixth district, your congressman you said, he voted against jim jordan. he voted instead for mike garcia a republican of california. did you call his office ahead of today's vote? caller: i did.

i urged him, i wrote him and i called him and i urged him please whatever you do, do not vote for this man. and i am just extremely proud. i'm basically an independent. host: did you vote for ellzey in the 2022 election? caller: i did. host: would you vote for him again in 2024 based on how he voted this afternoon? caller: i would. because he showed he has integrity. he's not in congress to do whatever they tell him to do to keep power. this is there's too many people like that right now that's working against the american people. the only reason they're there is to keep their seat. unfortunately we have too many of those that vote in government right now. i applaud jack ellzey for taking that stand. i hope he stays strong. my final word is jim jordan does

not need to be anywhere near the speaker's seat. host: understand. moments after the first round of voter for speaker concluded, you saw the house recess subject to the call of the chair. lawmakers left the chamber. chip roy, republican of texas, who voted for jim jordan, talked to reporters. here's what he had to say. mr. roy: i would certainly support that. >> were you surprised to see 20 holdouts? mr. roy: jim got 200 votes for speaker of the house. if you said somebody that would happen four years ago, people would have laugh. we're in a position now where people can, they're out there. their constituents will let them know whether they're for or against him. that's true for all of us. we all have to, you know, look our constituents in the eye and tell them why we do something. we'll see what happens over the course of the day. i expect to go back to the well at some point today.

reporter: do you think some of those people will flip votes before the end they have day? mr. roy: i don't know. i know we have to listen to our constituents so we'll see what happens. reporter: does he offer anything to constituents? rules based? mr. roy: you'd have to ask him. to me jim is standing up to the house and saying we need to change the house. getting people to understand how you approach thins, awe howe you approach the spending process, how you approach ukraine fund, how you approach the border. explaining those things make sense but making a deal, no. reporter: is it insurmountable? mr. roy: it's not insurmountable. reporter: how many rounds should he go before you find a different nominee? mr. roy: i would go for a while to go through the process.

we have debates, it's fairly open, we are trying to make changes in the conference to see if we can go through some cycles thresm conference said they didn't want to do that. so now here we are. we'll see how it goes. there's a lot of people there that if i'd asked you two years ago, four years ago this person would vote for jim jordan for speaker, you'd say i'm not sure about that. jim has done a lot of work uniting the conference. we're a pretty united conference on most of the issues. we have to work through this. reporter: how do you change the votes of people who aren't opposed to jordan because of policy because because it's jim jordan. mr. roy: give me your reasons why why you're voting know? is it because you're angry? that's not a message. go to the american people and explain your vote. explain who you are for. i look forward tulle my colleagues doing that. we'll see that unfold over time. thanks, guys. host: texas republican chip roy on the capitol steps following

the first round of voting here today in the nation's capitol for speaker of the house. jim jordan unable to get the vote he is need. the magic number is 217 today because of two vacancies and one missing republican who is out of town. you just heard chip roy say he thinks jim jordan should keep going, keep voting on the floor until he gets the number. olivia beavers who reports for politico sending this tweet out earlier today. i personally know five will change their votes from yes, to no, on the second round. that's what they told me. is will get worse, one house memb tls me just now. scott wong of nbc sending out a similar tweet from a jordan backer saying they know of five to six who were a yes on the first round and then they would switch to no if there is a second round. we are in a holding pattern right now, waiting for the house to come back, subject to the

call of the chair. david in florida, democratic caller, let's hear from you, david. david are you there? florida, democratic caller, your reaction to the speaker election? david, you with us? caller: yes. i'm lakefront, florida. host: got it. go ahead and talk. caller: i till tell you you my thoughts on this. there's a lifelong -- as a lifelong democrat and a recently disgusted democrat, i think the republicans need to go in there and -- in lockstep. vote jim jordan in. get this over with. get the country back moving. i heard some woman who called in from maryland or out east about oh, jim jordan was involved in

some sex scandal with the wrestling department at ohio state. well, you think joe paterno was involved? poor old joe paterno, you know, was dying of cancer. and they railroaded him from a to z. host: so david, bring it back to the speaker race. caller: the speaker race, the republicans need to do what they've got to do, vote like the damn democrats, vote in lockstep. vote -- nobody will ever remember 20 years from now who the speaker -- they'll remember who the president was. but they'll never remember who the speaker of the house was. host: all right, david in florida. scott wong of nbc news joining us from capitol hill. we just heard that caller say republicans need to get in lockstep. what are the chances of that happening today?

guest: well, as you saw on the house floor just a few minutes ago, they are anything but in lockstep. you were reading some tweets from olivia beavers and myself, very similar reporting. i just spoke to a jim jordan backer downstairs. just a few minutes ago. who said that they know personally five to six members, republicans, who had just cast their ballot for jim jordan, but on the second ballot now will vote for somebody else. that does not bode well for jim jordan. he wants to shrink the number of defectors. instead there's a possibility we could see the number of defections, which stands now at 20, really start to grow and balloon. and at that point, it really would be over for jim jordan. perhaps that's a reason why, instead of going right to the second ballot, that he is regrouping. huddling with his team. his whip operation.

we saw him consorting with former speaker mccarthy in the moments after the gavel slammed down. but the republican party right now is really in a state of disarray. and a lot of lawmakers are scratching their heads as to what the next step is at this point, great tasm. host: why would those five to six switch from yes to no? guest: well, i think the reasoning would be jim jordan is the party's nominee at this point. at this moment in time. for that first ballot. but his opponent in voting against him, 20 defectors, demonstrated that jim jordan is far away from being able to secure those 217 votes that he needs. he fell, in fact, 17 votes short, only getting 200 votes

today. so the thinking from, i think, some of these individuals is that, well, jim jordan can't get 217 just like steve scalise couldn't get 217. now we have to move to a plan c or d. or another scenario would be to leave speaker mchenry, the speaker pro tem, in that position, grant him a few more powers to enable legislation to start happening again, because remember, great tark we've been two weeks now without an official elected speaker of the house and in that time, no legislating has occurred. on the house floor. at a time when, you know, we have -- we are now exactly one month away from the next government shutdown. when there are demands for additional ukraine aid and additional aid for the war in israel. and so there's some really heavy issues that are hanging about

the capitol right now and we have not seen any sort of activity for the better part of two weeks. host: where are the key players at this moment? guest: well, it is unclear. i think they are huddling in their respective offices. you have to imagine the leadership is is trying to figure out a path forward, if there is a path forward, for jim jordan. i was with lawmakers as they were walking back to their offices, the rank and file lawmakers. so they are trying -- they are awaiting word as to the next step. it is possible we could see additional votes later this afternoon. but you know, we are sort of in a holding pattern, awaiting -- a wait and see mode, as jordan figures out what his next play is. remember there are also others that are waiting in the wings.

i wrote on friday a story about mike johnson, a member of leadership who said he's ready to jump into the speaker's race should jordan not be able to secure the 217 vote he is needs. there are others that are believed to be raring to go. tom emmer, the majority whip, as well as some other names. so we are sort of in a state of chaos and disarray as we have been for the last two weeks. and nothing really has changed. host: on the democratic side, what are those party leaders plotting right now? guest: the main message from hakeem jeffries and katherine clark, the two leaders of the democratic caucus, really is unity. we saw that demonstrated on the house floor earlier today. we saw that with the pete

aguilar's nominating speech for jeffries, we saw that in cheers and standing ovagues for hakeem jeffries. democrats have shown that they can remain united as the republicans are in a civil war with each other. whether that's moderates, conservatives, appropriator, defense hawks, really all different falks of the republican conference are in an internal struggle right now. the democrats believe that they can take over the majority in 2024 if they simply remain unified and, you know, show the american people, the voters, that they are the responsible ones, that they are the ones who can govern while the house republicans remain in disarray. host: what are the prospects that there's a bipartisan nominee brought to the floor?

guest: i really think we are many, many steps away from that. anything is possible, as we know from watching the house of representatives over these past few years, right. we've seen an insurrection up here. we have seen seen two impeachments, now possibly a third. we have seen the remeul of a sitting speaker of the house for the first time in american history. and now we are in this situation of having a speakerless house. so anything is possible. given these shirks, given the unpredictability of our politics. however, when you talk to some of those more moderate republicans, those who are opposing jordan, they say they will never support a democratic speaker. they don't really want to have a bipartisan coalition. i think they are -- they still believe that they cap work this out within their own

quote-unquote g.o.p. family before they extend a hand to the democrats on the other side of the aisle. host: scott wong, follow his reporters on x. @scottwongdc. suzette on the republican line. what do you think of all of this? caller: i think house members need to cool off. they need to settle down. and they're making this more of a crisis than it really. is there's the office of historian of the house, the 34th congress, representative nathaniel prentice banks of massachusetts was only elected after 133 rounds. and some two months later, it took vote and he finally had won the speakership. and so here we are two weeks and

people are panicking. we didn't send our representatives to washington, d.c. to make laws. we have so many laws and we have even duplicate laws. ridiculous. it's not -- we didn't send them there for that. we sent them there to represent us. should something come up as far as laws go, then they have the power of the purse if necessary for commerce to pass laws. but not to show up so they can give money away to countries when we are trillions of dollars in debt here in our own country. these guys want to spend none willy nilly and try to change the process, i heard democrats and even some republicans that want to change the rules so to make it easier to pass legislation. our founding fathers didn't want that to be easy. they wanted debate. even if it took a long time, month, because they wanted to represent the people and get the people's expressed thoughts on

those. host: the rule change would be to give the current speaker pro tem, patrick mchenry, to bring legislation to the floor. while he's serving in ha post. caller: yeah. and that's something that they would have to change. i mean i don't think it's necessary. if legislation is stalled, then it's stalled. we have again so many laws on the books and so many things that are passed. i really enjoy the single c.r.'s, the clean c.r.'s that are passed because that's what represents the people. host: suzette, i'm going to ronnie, an independent in san diego. your turn. caller: yes. i think jeffries right now with the situation going on, not only in the united states but in the world, we need somebody that has proven themselves over and over again and right now, i think jeffries is the best choice for speaker of the house. now if that doesn't happen on

the democratic side, i think johnson from louisiana would be the best choice. he has proven himself in louisiana. jordan, from ohio, i have several friends that live in ohio. they tell me that jordan has been a major problem for them for people living in ohio. so if he is like that in the state of ohio, i think he would be like that in the united states as a whole. so i think right now, hakeem jeffries is the best choice on the democratic side. if that doesn't happen then i think johnson from louisiana could unite the country, not only the republicans but the democrats. and we have major problems in the united states, we have major problems around the world. let's just get going and get this over with. and not make it a crisis like it has been. host: all right. ronnie is calling for hakeem jeffries to be speaker. he received 212 from members of

his own party, the democrats were yiened in that first round of voting today. but not the 217 that he would need. he would have to get republicans to vote for him. another nominee that was mentioned on the floor was thomas massie. victoria spartz of indiana, republican, voted for massie instead of jim jordan when her name was called. congressman massie spoke to reporters outside of the capitol following that first round of voting. here's what he had to say. mr. massie: i think we'll get to the speaker soon. reporter: how do you feel about the nominee? mr. massie: there's no paul ryan in this race. remember mack when kevin mccarthy decided not to run after running for a while, they brought paul ryan up. he had a good brand nationally. he had a decent inside game.

he could raise money. but there's no paul ryan. there's no close second to jim jordan now. reporter: if jim jordan doesn't make it, are we talking about -- it gets more complicated. mr. massie: i think jim jordan will make it this week. reporter: if he doesn't, does mccarthy make a comeback? emmer? emmer got a vote, mccarthy got some vote you got a vote. mr. massie: just because you got a vote doesn't mean you'll be speaker. if it does i'll throw my name in there. reporter: mccarthy has people talking about the speakership, 20 say no to jordan right now. mr. massie: mccarthy is behind jim jordan. he had a lot of people who were going to vote for him who didn't vote for jordan, he'll talk to them. if mccarthy is behind jordan and

scalise is bind jordan. reporter: do you think he can cut deals with new york delegation, with thaings care about? mr. massie: this is the reason jordan is the only viable speaker candidate we have. he's the only one who can get elected without cutting deals. that was the demise of kevin mccarthy. i supported mccarthy but he had so many arrangements and deals they became almost mutually exclusive. but jordan has gotten this far without a single deal, he has a plan to keep us from getting into a shutdown. he's the only one who can reset the expecting as that had been set earlier with conservatives. that's that's why i think he's the only viable candidate we have. i think he's going to get there this week. thank you. host: kentucky republican tom massie on the floor of the house steps following the speaker vote earlier today. one round of voting occurred this afternoon. around 1:00 p.m. eastern time.

jim jordan unable to get the 217 he needs to become speaker. eric wasman of bloomberg tweeting out moments ago, more speaker votes expected today per jordan's office. from gainesville, florida, charles, we're getting your reaction to this speaker election. caller: here's the thing. republicans have got to put -- have put themselves in a bad situation. we're look at an organization now where the confrontational nature seems to be the primary thing. jim jordan is really one of the flagship republicans to bring that whole adversarial position. unfortunately it's in the working for him now. it's not working when the foangs the far right ousted mccarthy. the problem we're having is they can't even agree within their own party. i really think that, i mean, after listening to republicans for the last several days complain that the democrats

didn't cross the aisle and help keep their preferred speaker, mccarthy, in office, i think they should take some of their own medicine. why don't some of those republicans cross the aisle and vote for marie perez or slotkin, a moderate democrat, for speaker and let's build a consensus of people who want to govern and get away from this whole concept of radical left wing or right wing members of the party taking the entire government hostage. host: all right. charles in gainesville, florida. to pennsylvania, walter, republican. hi, walter. caller: hi, how are you doing? host: doing well. caller: sorry about the dog. host: that's all right. caller: i think the -- the thing i wanted to agree with is what the last gentleman spoke about, was that we need the moderates. we don't need people that are

basically lockstep with every vote. it's -- i haven't -- listening to everything, i haven't found anyone i can really disagree with but it's time that we really sit down and decide what we want to do as a country. there's so much existing at the present time as a 77-year-old, 50-something years as a republican, it's -- i see this all the way back to the vietnam war which i participated in. that we just can't seem to agree to disagree in a way that we take in consideration other thoughts and not be so negative against everyone.

and it doesn't make a difference to me who becomes speaker. we just need to have everybody working together. host: ok, walter. ma new raju of cnn reporting similar to bloomberg, jim jordan to force another vote today, quote the house needs a speaker as soon as possible. expect another round of votes today. it's time for republicans to come together. that's from a spokesman for chairman jordan. steve from dayton, ohio. caller: yes, how you doing? host: doing well. caller: i just want to comment on that, i just don't understand, if republicans had any common sense to say jim jordan brings too much baggage, he's not going to bring enough vote, they should have thought of a republican that maybe both sides could agree on to vote as

speaker. at this point we may go to 15 votes like it was in january when they were trying to get mccarthy in. and that didn't work out. now we don't have a speaker again. can't get no legislation done. nothing passed. they need to understand, they're there for the american people. i remember -- i mean i just was thinking about the last person, congressperson that was on, massie, who mentioned something about deals and deals and making deals. they're not there to make deals. they need to pass, they need to pass thicks to make it better for the u.s. citizens. i don't care if you're republican, democrat, whatever. they need to start passing things that's going to help us, help our allies. 15 votes for mccarthy, i hope it doesn't 15 for jordan or whatever. he should not be up there, he should be disqualified for even running for speaker for supporting the insurrection. never getting anything done. that's why i say the republicans should find someone that both

sides can vote so we can get a speaker by now. host: all right. democrats also talking to reporters following that first round of votes for speaker. here's steny hoyer, former democratic leader. of maryland. reporter: you talked earlier about conversations with other democrats, maybe some republicans, about consensus speakers that could get both republican and democratic votes. mr. hoyer: i think it one surprising if that conversation hadn't occurred. we have a house that is now -- that has now been shut down by the extreme right of their party. four weeks now. this is our first day of meetings. so we'll see. that needs to stop. the way it stops is for them to

decide to go to a place where they can get votes, as opposed to going to a place where they lost votes. he got less than mccarthy got. so we'll see what happens. reporter: what does a consensus look like, the logistics look like in real life? do you think the democrats would nominate anyone other than jeffries? mr. hoyer: no we're going to nominate jeffries. we'll see what mr. jeffries says. but they have right now more votes than we do, they have more members than we do. but we need a speaker who is responsible. a speak we are an appreciation for the institution's role, for democracy, making our government work, making america stable. confidence-building rather than confidence-destroying. reporter: so in practice if republicans chose someone who

met those standards would democrats just not show up for the vote and let that person become speak her i guess i'm curious what that would look like. mr. hoyer: there are a lot of different ways. one option is to vote for a speaker that we think would be responsible and effective. we have an acting speaker that i think wants to be responsible. there are options available to us. reporter: would you prefer giving mchenry more pow her. mr. hoyer: that's one option. i'm not going to change my -- going to choose my option before we're done but i want to choose an option that has the house of representatives working on behalf of the american people and providing some stability in our country and in providing the aid that ukraine needs to fight despotism and destruction and international criminal law breaking, and our friends in israel the same. and i think most members want the house to work, most republicans do.

most -- all the democrats do. i would hope we would get to that. and do it in a way that gives confidence that we can work together. reporter: do you think a speaker jordan would make it easier for the democrats to take back the house? mr. hoyer: i think probably the answer so that is yes. i don't think america wants extremism. i don't think america wants its government shut down. i don't think america wants us not to help our allies and friends like ukraine and israel. i don't think that's what the american people want. so i think it would help. but that's not why we voted the way we did. instead of going, ok, we'll let you be speaker, that's not what we're going to be do. we want to have the house operating in an effective manner for the american people. reporter: have you talked to patrick mchenry about

potentially empowering him or him running for the job? mr. hoyer: i haven't spoken to mchenry recently, no. reporter: what would jordan do from ukraine's perspective? mr. hoyer: we're going to get through this and we'll make sure ukraine has the resources it needs to confront a war criminal in putin and win the war in ukraine. i think we'll get there. reporter: do you think the speaker jordan makes a shutdown more likely? a hypothetical speaker jordan? mr. hoyer: he voted against 36 out of 37 continuing resolutions. that doesn't give you any confidence he's going to fund the government of the united states of america. host: steny hoyer, democrat from maryland, talking to reporters after the first round of voting for speaker today.

jim jordan, 17 votes short of becoming speaker. we have just learned from jordan's office and reporters on capitol hill that he will have a second round of voting today. that members should be prepared for that. jacquelyn in illinois, democratic caller, jacquelyn, your reaction to what you've seen today in washington. caller: i think it's very disturbing. if jordan gets elected, that would be the biggest mistake that the republican party ever made. you're putting in another trump. in my opinion. their goals are, let's see, funding to ukraine, their goals are funding to help israel. to fight against hamas. his billion la. am i saying that right? host: yeah. caller: those are all joined together. with hamas.

it's disgusting. and if we vote in an individual, his constituents should get smart by now. and vote him out. that's the only way he's going to leave. i wish they had terms for both congress and senate. just like they do for the president. i would like to see hakeem jeffries in there, i think he's the best moderate for the position at the moment. we've got to get this country running and we've got to get back. this is a horrible time for the united states. to be in this kind of a position. we need to have somebody that's got some common sense. who cares about this country. and i do believe that hakeem jeffries fills that slot right now. host: all right, jacquelyn. nancy in columbus, ohio. republican. caller: hi. i just think it's interesting

that there's only 17 votes needed for jim jordan to become the next speaker of the house. host: 17 more. he had 200. he needs 217. caller: i know but he already has the 200. i'm just thinking. i think it's by design that there's 17 votes needed and i think it's waking up the american public that a time has come for the american people to take their country back. from the elite leaders that have suppressed us for so long. and to real -- it's a wonderful time, difficult time, because it's like back in the early days of our country. when when tyranny was happening with britain overtaxing us. we're taxed on everything. we're taxed on wages we earn. it's insane that we've let it go on for so long. so 17 is the magical number. we'll get there today.

and please, america, stand up and see what's happening. open your eyes. see that the time has come for the workers, the true workers of america, the backbone of america, who is provided for their families with taxation on their backs for so long. please, wake up, america. we need everyone onboard on this. host: all right, nancy. it's 3:00 p.m. here on the east coast. the house is in recess subject to the call of the chair. while we wait to see what happens next, jim jordan's office saying there will be a second round of voting, we want to rewind to earlier this afternoon, have you watch in its entirety that first round of voting starting with nomination speeches. presence. the next order of business is the election of speaker of the house of representatives for the 118th congress. nominations are now i