US House speaker nominee Scalise drops out of race, deepening crisis
By David Morgan and Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Representative Steve Scalise, who Republicans picked to be the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, dropped out of the race on Thursday as his party failed to resolve its divisions, sending the chamber into its 10th day without leadership.
Scalise, the Majority Leader, had secured his party's nomination to replace ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy but was still short of the 217 votes needed to be elected on the House floor, as several of his fellow Republicans said they would not support him.
Republicans could afford no more than four defections — they control the House by a narrow 221-212 margin — if they wanted to end the House's leaderless bout that has already lasted nine days.
«I just shared with my colleagues that I was withdrawing my name as a candidate for our speaker designee,» Scalise told reporters.
«If you look at over the last few weeks, if you look at where our conference is, there is still work to be done… There are still some people that have their own agendas,» he said.
The Republican infighting has left the chamber unable to act to support Israel's war against Palestinian militants of Hamas and pass government spending bills before funding runs out on Nov. 17.
Republicans concluded a meeting Thursday night without coming to an agreement on who would be their nominee. They will meet again at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT) on Friday.
Republicans had hoped to avoid a repeat of the embarrassing spectacle that occurred in January, when hardline conservatives forced McCarthy to endure 15 floor votes over four days before winning the gavel.
'AT A STANDSTILL'
Several Republicans earlier said they would stick with Scalise's rival Jim Jordan, who lost
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