House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters on Thursday that he will be talking to holdouts who have yet to back him for House Speaker following a closed-door session with Republicans.
"We're honing in on, I think, the real concerns and issues that members have," Scalise said in remarks to ABC News.
"Members want to get the House working again, but they want to get the institution working again. Congress is broken. And we need to fix it," he added. "We need to continue to make the kind of reforms that open this process up again, that address the problems that are facing hard-working families."
Although Scalise won a vote behind closed doors among the GOP caucus, he needs at least 217 members to support him in a floor vote to become the next speaker, but ABC reports that at least 13 of the 221 Republicans in the House don't plan to back him.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said on Thursday that "it's possible" Scalise could obtain the necessary votes, but added, "... It's a big hill though. He told a lot of people who would be at 150 [votes] and he wasn't there."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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