Jim Jordan talks to press prior to vote on Speaker today

Jim Jordan held a press conference this morning setting up a series of votes Friday

VOTES WILL PROCEED TODAY FOR SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

Jim Jordan made a short statement today about his bid to become Speaker of the House prior to expected votes on the floor at 10am. It's a Friday, and Members are usually preparing to fly out of town headed for home on the weekend. This will be delayed as Jim Jordan is moving ahead to try and finish out the selection of a Speaker. He says he wants to see the House get back to business. Will he secure the position of Speaker? It seems this will be a long day working through the present impasse.

THE PROBLEM? SOME MEMBERS DON'T WANT TO CHANGE COURSE IN CONGRESS

Your Members of Congress has little to no input in how we spend money out of Washington.

Congress has a broken system which inefficiently and corruptly spends tax money. Instead of involving every Member of Congress in the process of determining how federal tax dollars will be spent, a limited number of Members are allowed to participate in that process. Your Congressman is shut out of legislative efforts to craft bills. They must go hat in hand to leadership or Appropriators to make any changes. And it is mostly appropriators who are blocking Jordan's bid to become Speaker.

Omnibus bills and Continuing Resolutions are written by just four people.

The Speaker and Minority Leader of the House and the Majority and Minority Members in the Senate ultimately write massive spending bills that the rest of the Members must vote for--up or down. Your Member of Congress never have the opportunity to offer amendments or debate particulars. They are completely shut out of that process. In effect, the leadership of the two parties, some members of the Appropriations committees in the House and Senate and a few lobbyists develop spending packages. You are not represented in that effort. It violates the very purpose of electing people to Congress.

22 members are still holding out. Will they flip?

So far, there are 22 holdouts, and they seem determined to remain so. There will likely need to be many votes if Jordan hopes to finish this process. There have been rumors votes will continue through the weekend. The problem is the holdouts are still very angry over the ouster of Kevin McCarthy after a successful Motion to Vacate just over two weeks ago. And they are directing their ire at Jordan whom they see as a regular impediment to the Republican Caucus.

Can Jordan get us back to Regular Order?

Has Jim Jordan been an impediment? I would argue he hasn't. He has surely been involved in many battles over spending in recent years. Those efforts have been undertaken to get a hold on out-of-control spending which over the last 10 years has nearly doubled from just over $17 trillion to nearly $33 trillion. Congress can do better if the process returns to "Regular Order." Regular Order was established in the Budget Control Act of 1974. This requires Congress to separate out spending legislation into 12 separate bills that must be passed by the end of the Fiscal Year on September 30. Bills are brought to the floor in Regular Order and every Member can offer amendments to help craft the legislation. This is healthy. It allows needed changes to be made. And it would frankly bring Members of both parties together on certain aspects of spending. The overall effect will tend toward restrained spending. The last time Congress followed Regular Order was the 1990s which helped lead to budget surpluses instead of budget deficits.

Is Jim Jordan the answer?

If Jim Jordan secures the Speakership, there is a possibility Congress could restore Regular Order. Over the last few years, Jordan has worked hard to help the process and work against a weaponized government and corruption at the highest levels. He has done so attempting to cooperate with GOP leaders. And at present, 200 of his fellow Republicans believe he can lead them to future success. Today is the day we will find out if Jim Jordan can become Speaker. If he can pull this off, it will likely turn into a new era of needed reform in Washington, DC.