Punchbowl News: “House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has to quickly rescue his floundering bid for speaker. That effort will start now at the House Republican Conference meeting in the Capitol basement. But it’s a huge challenge with very little time to do it.”
“Scalise is entering the meeting after garnering just 113 votes in the House GOP internal party election — far short of 217 he needs to become speaker and barely a majority of House Republicans.”
“Scalise world is feeling pretty grim right now. GOP lawmakers and aides in his orbit believe he has just 24 hours to turn his campaign around. Scalise has failed to win over dozens of Republicans who say they will continue to support Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) or others for speaker. There’s anywhere between 20 to 30 — maybe even more — Republicans in the anti-Scalise camp, and more seem to be going public every minute.”
