You're listening to the Bloomberg Sound On podcast. Catch us live weekdays at one Eastern.
On Bloomberg dot com, the iHeartRadio app and the Bloomberg Business app, or listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome to the Friday edition of Bloomberg Sound On. I'm Joe Matthew in Washington. As we prepare to speak with Ambassador James Jeffries. I'll bring you up to date quickly on what we know here from Israel. The headline on the terminal says it all the latest from Israel. UN staff give an evacuation order for northern Gaza.
This is it.
Israel's armed forces telling the UN to evacuate personnel from northern Gaza, indicating that a ground operation could be coming soon and that is expected as early as tonight into tomorrow, something we've been talking about for the balance of the week.
Of course.
In a message that was delivered earlier, underscored by Israeli Defense Minister Jova Gallant, hereious, please go south.
We are going to destroy Jamas infrastwalk jails, hamas head Quartels hamas military.
He appeared along with the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who is now in Tel Aviv, just a day after Antony Blinkin, the Secretary of State paid a visit. He appeared alongside the Israeli Defense Minister and was asked several times about the potential for civilian casualties collateral damage inside Gaza City.
Here's the Secretary.
I've worked with Israeli forces over the years, over many years. As you know, I wore a uniform for forty one years. My experience in working with the Israeli forces as they are professional, they are discipline and they are focused on the right things.
Now as we follow the travels of the Secretary of State Antony Blinkn, remembering yesterday he was in Tel Aviv where he met not only with government officials beginning with benjaminet Yahoo, but also survivors of the attacks last weekend. Today he is in cutter where he appeared with the Prime Minister in a joint news conference, asked as well about this very same mans.
Israel has the right, Indida has the obligation to defend its people and to try to ensure that Hamas can never repeat what it's done. We continue to discuss with Israel the importance of taking every possible precaution to avoid harming civilian. We recognize that many Palestinian families in Gaza are suffering through no fault of their own, and the Palistinian civilians have lost their lives.
As we've told you, he also will be visiting Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and a few other stops along the way as this itinerary expands.
Making his way through the region.
Could be some very challenging optics if this invasion does begin with him on the road. And that's where we start our conversation with James Jeffries, chair of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center, the former Ambassador to Iraq and Turkey, a special envoy for the Global Coalition to counter the islam State of Iraq and the levant Isis. Of course, mister ambassador, is great to see you, and we appreciate your joining us today to share your experience
and your view here. And I'd like to start in that same place as we look at what's going on here and the potential for this to escalate. Is this not the very scenario that you've spent your years worrying about seeing actually happen.
Absolutely I've been involved in many mini waws, conflicts, exchanges of fire, bombing, raids and such in the Middle East. That's path of the course. This one is different like the Yom Kippo Wah fifty years ago where Egypt in Syria almost overran Egypt like nine to eleven, only far worse, like Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. This is one of the big ones we only see once every decade or two decades in the Middle East that really can change things
and puts countries in existential threat. Israel is an existential threat, not just from the people civilians killed ten times proportionally what we lost from tera On nine to eleven. It was the overrunning of a whole forward Israeli armed division by five thousand roughly Hamas highly trained and prepared soldiers. That presents the threat to Israel. It can't deal permanently with that threat while also having threats on its northern border from his bullet and from Iran across the Gulf.
So Israel has to go in and take out Hamas. That's the order it's given the military to dismantle Hamas. Very similar to the mission that when Tony Blincoln and Lloyd Austin were in the Obronment administration, they were given to take out the Islamic state, and in both cases
that can really generate civilian casualties. And in the case of this conflict, is a risk that Lebani's who bullock out of Lebanon, could intervene Arran directly, which is one reason why President Biden is so strong and why you send two aircraft carriers to deter other countries from filing on as Israel is focused on Gaza.
Well, what happens in the next couple of days here and to the extent that this ground invasion occurs, mister ambassador will tell us a lot I suspect about the potential for this to escalate. This is not going to be easy, realizing we have a very well trained military and a very capable one in Israel. I think to the Secretary's point, this is going to require a good deal of discipline. How concerned are you about the way Israel will conduct this invasion in an area that's teeming with civilians.
Well, look, I have to be really blunt here, and countries are fighting existential battles, they will adhere to the law of WAW but that neither requires nor will they make it their top priority to spare civilians. That's the problem with the admonitions they've been getting from the Biden administration.
If you're going to take, as Tony Blincoln said, every possible precaution to avoid attacking civilians or hurting civilians, you don't invade an area where civilians are being held by the tens of thousands as essentially human shields by Hamas. Hamas could a support the evacuation of people. It could place its troops and its installations not inside buildings that people are in, but it does. That's the problem for Israel. It's going to be trying to achieve a military victory quickly.
It can't keep five percent of the population under arms indefinitely with minimum Israelly casualties while also minimizing the civilian losses, which is why the Israeli Minister of Defense told the citizens of Gaza to move south about ten miles across what we call the Wadi or Gaza River.
How difficult of a job does Israel have here. This is obviously an entrenched enemy with a network of tunnels beneath Gaza. There are no uniforms that they'll be able to see when they move into the streets of Gaza. Mister ambassador, you think about this as a combination potentially of Stalingrad and Ewojima.
With what they're facing, this is.
Going to be very tough. I'm a farmer infantry officer. Attacking into a sea is difficult, even if you have overwhelming numerical superiority, which Israel does have, and even if you have air power, armor and other things that the other side does not have. It often comes down to soldier versus soldier, fighting your way from room to room, as we did in Fallujah in two thousand and four.
In Iraq, we.
Lost one hundred Marines army fighters killed and several hundred wounded. But Israel can do this. It is determined to do this. It is determined to take the high casual least. The problem is, as we saw in the attack last Saturday, Hamas has thousands of highly trained fighters who surprised the Israeli army and overran the front line Israeli positions. So
Israel will have to be barely careful. But this is another reason why they're bombing to such an extraordinary degree, far more than they ever have done in Gaza as a preparatory step to sending their troops, and they want to discombobulate Hamas's defense is as much as possible. That we'll see when they do go in, and I'm sure they will, whether they're successful or not.
Mister Ambassador Iran says that a new front is possible quote if israel war crimes continue unquote do you read into that? What do you expect to happen once this actual invasion gets underway and the images are on screens around the world, what is Iran's next move?
Let me be cynical here. The images will infuriate in outrage Arab populations and countries like Saudi Arabia and the Gulf and Jordan that are friendly to America and basically Israel, as well as European publics. Iran is going to be delighted at these bitches, as will lebaneseis bullet the Iranian vassal state in southern Lebanon because they want Israel to get a bad reputation. The key question for Israel and for the United States is will they intervene militarily? I
don't think so. First of all, the Israelis have now mobilized three hundred and sixty thousand troops. They're on the alert. They won't be prize. It'll make me much much harder to attack Israel. Secondly, and even more importantly, President Biden has committed the US, essentially in concrete terms, to come to Israel's defense if Hamas or Ran intervened. That's the purpose of the two aircraft carriers. That's the purpose of the air Force aircraft sent there. And he's justified in
doing so. There are hundreds of thousands of American citizens in Israel right now, as we saw last Saturday. They are targets as well. So I think that that will deter a Rand in his bullet. I think that if it does deter them, and Israel succeeds, the Middle East will be in the long run and safer place. But those are many.
Ifs huh, Well, that's fascinating. So you don't see a northern front opening, and in that world, the gerald Ford carrier group does not get involved. This ends up being contained to Gaza City. However, many days or weeks it takes for this mission to be done and we're over. Is that is that your best case scenario?
Sure?
Under no circumstances did the United States intend to have our military forces engage in the Gaza Fad. It was rather to allow the Israelis to concentrate their forces in the south. Was to help the Israelis by containing his Bullah in Lebanon, Iran and Iranian militias in Syria. There are several fronts Israel has to watch. I think that is working, and to say that the carrier battle group
won't get involved because it will deter combat. Frankly, that's one of the best uses of our military force is not to fight. Yeah, stop fight happening. I think this is going to work, but I've been wrong before.
Well, how about the diplomatic component here. This is where your experience comes into play as well, mister ambassador. The Secretary of State is on his way to Saudi Arabia. This potential partnership, this new deal with Israel be salvaged.
It is frozen. It can be salvaged under several circumstances. One is the humanitarian losses are not too great. A lot of that depends on how much time Israel gives the population to move south of the Wadi Gaza. It is physically capable of doing it, it's ten miles and secondly, whether Hamas allows them to do so. If most of the population can get out of the way, you're still going to have possibilian casualties, just as we have in the fight against the Islamic State, but they will be
kept under control. The Saudis will appreciate that, other Arab states will But importantly, if Hamas is destroyed, believe me, the Saudis will be happy. These are the Saudi enemies. The Gulf States will be happy as well. And if the United States has shown that it stands by its patner, be it Israel today is Saudi Arabia tomorrow. Believe me, that is extremely valuable currency in the insecure and unstable Middle East we have today.
This will not end up with a treaty being signed on the deck of an aircraft carrier. As they say, mister ambassador, how will we know that this is done with regard to Hamas.
That is a difficult question always to answer, unless it is something like the signing of a peace treaty or the end of the Kuwait War in nineteen ninety one, where they sat down on the table. We have not formally ended our battle against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. We still have troops in both countries, we still do operations against them, but what we know is that they no longer occupy territory, They no longer control
nine million people. They no longer can fiel thirty thousand troops. They can't lawn terrible attacks to Paris, to Berlin, to con to Brussels. That's the kind of victory on the ground that you can sense. But even then, in these launch day it's a good example. You have to be present, you have to be weary, you have to keep on hitting them even when they have been all broken up.
Sounds like this is going to be a long term story and something we'd like to stay in touch with you on Former Ambassador James Jeffries now at the Wilson Center.
Thanks for the insights. This is Bloomberg.
You're listening to The Bloomberg Sound on podcast. Catch the program live weekdays at one Eastern.
On Bloomberg Radio, the tune in app, Bloomberg dot Com, and the Bloomberg Business App.
You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station. Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven.
Thirty fascinating conversation on the situation in Israel with the former Ambassador James Jeffries.
Thanks for joining us. I'm Joe Matthew in Washington.
You're on Bloomberg Sound On with the word from Israel that it is time to evacuate. That includes the United Nations now from northern Gaza, and we're seeing an exodus. It's just a question of how many people can get out before a ground invasion begins, and we're told that could be anytime from tonight into tomorrow, but it should be an important weekend in the trajectory of this conflict.
As we assemble our panel today, glad to say in studio with me in Washington, d C is Mark Short, the former Director of White House Legislative Affairs, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence.
It's great to see you, Mark, thanks for joining, Thanks for having me on on set.
Here in New York, we have Bloomberg Politics contributor to Democratic analyst Genie Shanzino. You made it to Friday, Jeanie. It's great to see you and thanks for all the insights this week. And we are far from being done here. As we pick up the conversation from Ambassador Jeffries. We've heard from Anthony Blincoln today, Mark, We've heard from Lloyd Austin.
Both asked directly in news conferences about protections for civilians in Gaza City and the ability to get people out, notch just hostages, but any civilians as they seek some sort of humanitarian court or here. How concerned are you about some very challenging optics in the next two days.
Yeah, Joe, I think it's going to be more than the next two days. I think that this is probably going to be a war that's prosecuted for a few weeks. And I think that a question here domestically. I think you can commend the Biden administration for the way they've stood by our cherished ally, but as that prosecution continues on for weeks and their voices within the squad, they've become louder. How does the Democrats party stay united behind Israel or not? But I think this is not gonna
be a matter of two days. I think it's a matter of a couple of weeks.
Sure that won't make it any easier as we go, I'm sure, so speak to me about that period of time. I mean, we're talking about war fatigue in Ukraine almost two years into that conflict. How much time and how much understanding well, Benjaminette, yeah have here in the US as he conducts this war.
Well, I think he's going to have a lot of support, frankly, and I think he deserves that support. But I think it's as it continues on and images come out of the devastation that happens, will that support continue to be with him? And I think there's also question is this limited to the Gossa shrip. There's no doubt that Iran has been funding Hamas and has been providing the resources for Hamas's terror attack against Israel, And so will they limit this there or will there be also attacks upon
Iranian assets? I think is a question that is unanswered at.
This point, Genie.
Ambassador Jeffries was quite sobering when he talked about this, making it clear that protecting civilians is not the priority here for Israel as it wages a war to eliminate Hamas.
How worried are you about what we're about to see?
Extremely worried? You know, there are just no good options here, and you know the Ambassador made a really important point that I you know, hope everyone reflects on, which is that, you know, we really don't want Israel and the United States to fall into any trap set by Iran, set by Hamas, set by Hesbolah. And what do they want to do. They want Israel to get into a quagmire once again in the Gaza strip. And that is a fear because we've seen this show already and we've seen
how it ends. And to your point, if they do do that, of course, the number of casualties, the pictures coming out, that is exactly what Hamas is banking on. And you know, amongst everything else that happened in the last week or so, one thing we should note is that they had a very sophisticated social media campaign coming out of Hamas from the time this terrorist attack started and it continues today. That is not going to let up. That is going to intensify. And so you know, when
your enemy wants something, don't give it to them. And I think we have to hope there's a way, and it's no easy way. Israel can figure out how to ensure that they don't do what the enemy wants them to do. And I think that's a concern for all of us. As we watch this.
On fold, listen to Yova Galant who appeared earlier today. This is the Israeli Defense Minister appeared in a news conference with Lloyd Austin, our Secretary of Defense is in Tel Aviv today when he was asked about the connection between Iran and Hamas. The official word from the US is there's no hard evidence to show that they helped to plan or encourage this attack. Lloyd Austin reiterated that today his counterpart in Israel sees it differently.
Listen, Iran, Chrisbala and Hamas is one oxis, an oxis of evil. Everything is directed generally from Iran. The permission is given by Iran, the money is supplied by Iran, and the ideas are shaped in Iran. Therefore, it doesn't matter if they give or didn't give a permission.
Marked The Administration is being heavily criticized for its posture with Iran. We've had any number of Republican lawmakers. Just last evening, Bill Haggerty was really admonishing the administration. For instance, the six billion dollars that was part of the prisoner swap recently that has apparently been refrozen or wasn't something. It's kind of hard to understand the actual status of what's happening in that bank account. But I wonder if you see this White House as.
Needing to say more.
You've got the Secretary of Defense delivering a very different message than the Israeli Defense minister on this.
Well.
As I said, I think the administration has stood by
Israel after the attack. But having said that, I do think that there was an appeasement effort that in bolden Iran to fund Hamas and gave Hamas a sense that they could they could take this attack at this time, whether or not it's the six billion dollars in assets they're one frozen, whether or not it's the constant begging for Iran to come back to the table to sign a new Iran nuclear deal, whether or not it's it's turning the cheek when I Ran has been providing drones
to Ukraine. This administration has continued to offer a sense of appeasement, and when you look at the disastrous withdraw in Afghanistan, it definitely emboldens our enemies.
And I don't think saying down about.
That, Ginnie, I know you don't agree with that, but what could this White House have done differently to not help create the narrative that Mark is telling.
Yeah, you know, I do think there is a narrative surrounding the six billion dollars, and we likely see the Senate pursued that, as you talked about when they come back to town next week. I don't know that we
should be as concerned right now about the narratives. I do think when this goes forward and we have some distance from it, there is going to be a lot of, you know, second guessing what happened, and I think much of that is going to fall on the government of Benjamin and Yahoo, not necessarily the United States, and not necessarily Joe Biden. So yes, we should think about the six billion. I don't necessarily have a problem with refreezing that. But this idea of a blame game seems to me
to be all about politics at this point. And you know, Mark mentioned early on, you know what we're hearing, which is that a concern about what the squad and those people say. There's also a concern about what Donald Trump is out there saying. He's out there calling Hesbelah smart, He's out there attacking Benjamin net and Yahoo just hours after a horrendous terrorist attack on his nation. So I think the idea that we politicize any of this is not for the moment. And so, yes, the White House
may need to rethink it's approach to Iran. Agree with that. I'm not opposed to that, But I do think that the blame, if there is any blame to go along, it's going to fall squarely obviously on Hummus. It's going to fall on hes Blush did they get involved in will fall in Iran for any of that. But Benjamin Etna, whose government is going to have to think about what they did to those reservists to divide the military over there, That's where the blame is going to have to fall.
And the Israeli people, when it is time, they will be able to go to the ballot box and hold whoever they think is responsible in their own government responsible, and Americans can do the same thing.
I won't give you a chance to respond to that.
Well.
And look, I agree, I think that Donald Trump's comments were inexplicable. It was inexplicable. I mean, it's like at the time when our most cherished allies under attack, it's the it's the worst time in the world to be providing a cover for our enemies or criticizing Benjamin.
Speaking for himself or some wing.
I think it's I think it's really candidly. I think it's more personal and selfish. That relates to the fact that Mena who called Biden after the election. There, that's what it is.
Okay, this is awfully predictable.
Sometimes great to have Mark Short with us here in Washington and Genie Schanzano in New York.
I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Sound on podcast. Catch us live weekdays at one.
Eastern on Bloomberg dot com, the iHeartRadio app, and the Bloomberg Business app, or listen no on demand wherever you get your podcasts.
It's back to square one in the race for Speaker, as Steve Scalise withdraws his name from nomination, Jim Jordan jumps back in, and the Republican race for the speaker becomes a battle now between Jordan and an impeachment skeptic who We're going to talk ahead with a member of the conference who's been in meetings private meetings throughout the day to day Congressman Ben Klein, the Republican from Virginia, as we try to figure out the way forward here
ahead of this weekend that could also include a ground invasion in Gaza. The other story that we're following closely here painting out of two buckets again today in Washington. I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kaylee Lions, just back from Capitol Hill. It's another busy day up there, Kayley, with only one story to talk about, because we can't do anything until we get a speaker.
Yeah, and we'll see if they can get any step closer. They're back in conference after earlier today. Once again, that rule that would have made changes, made it so that two hundred and seventeen votes had to be secured before anyone could be the speaker nominee didn't pass. That was tabled again. So what we're looking for now is a majority, and we'll see whether Jim Jordan or Austin Scott can
ultimately get it. But then, as we know, they're going to face the same challenge Steve Scaliese did in trying to secure the requisite.
Votes absolutely two seventeen and you know sometimes it's the simple questions. As you asked Austin Scott, do you actually want this?
Here's what he said.
I don't necessarily want to be the figure that I want the House to punch him correctly.
The House not punching correctly.
Right now, let's bring in Congressman Ben Klein, the Republican from Virginia six Congressional District, is back with us on the phone here, having just emerged from that conference meeting that we've been talking about. Congressman, are you publicly backing a candidate at this stage?
I am Joe and Kaylie good to talk to you. I'm supportive of Chairman Jordan. I'm on the Judiciary Committee and he's been a great chairman, great leader, and he would make a great speaker.
Okay, Congressman, do you think he's getting there with everybody else, what's going on inside the room at the moment. Does he seem like he's going to have the requisite support?
So we had a conference meeting this morning, where as you said, we dealt with various rules amendments to decide whether we were going to raise the threshold to move to the floor to two hundred and seventeen or two hundred and eighteen and those were withdrawn by general consensus. There's general consensus that we need to try and operate as a team. We need to focus on unifying as a conference, working together, and so we're going to see
who comes out with the majority. My hope is that it's Chairman Jordan, and then that we may have a second vote just to see how much support he has going to the floor, whether there are some outliers who may want to protest because they don't like the way in which vacancy was created, and that's unfortunate, but we have to put the pass behind us.
We have to move forward.
We have to look at moving ahead with a conservative agenda for the country, and that's why I'm hopeful that Jim Jordan will get the requisite number of votes.
To move forward Congress.
But how important is it that this gets done this weekend. We were talking with Mark Short a moment ago, and he seemed to think the next two days are imperative to set up an actual successful vote for next week.
Is that how you see it?
Well, I think as soon as we can get consensus, we need to move to the floor. We don't need to go home for the weekend. We don't need to take a break. The members know how they feel about Jim Jordan. He's been a member for many years and that he's been a great leader. He has worked with Speaker McCarthy, former Speaker McCarthy who is supporting Jim Jordan, and Majority Leader Scalise, and so I think there is
general consensus that he would be the best candidates. Just question of whether we can get to eighteen and when we do, we need to move pretty quickly to the floor because there are a lot of pressing issues that we need to address well.
And on the idea of moving quickly to the floor, I understand there's some attendance issues within the conference right now, a number of members who are missing, and a lot of Democrats that aren't currently able to be in DC at least eminently as well, should there be some patients.
Here, well, sure, we want to make it possible for everybody to get back, but we caution members not to go home. We caution that there can be votes at any time, and if members decide that they need to up and go home, it's on them to get back soon enough to make the vote. We're not going to sit around conference and wait for two hundred and seventeen
Republicans to show up. But at that same time, we want there to be a general idea of who is going to vote for our nominee and who isn't, And simply avoiding the meetings and avoiding voting in the conference is not the appropriate way to move forward. We need to all be here, We need to talk it out, and we can't just sit in our office and pout.
Congressman, if you could bring us inside the room for a moment. I know you're not supposed to tell us a lot of what's said in there, and we do appreciate the fact that you've given us some time on the phone in the middle of this whole process. But what's the tenor like we hear about the five families and the Republican conference or people arguing, do you have individuals speaking to the entire room or you're broken up into groups?
How's this working?
Well, there's We're in the largest committee room in the House, the Ways and Means Committee, and there's a table up front with two members sitting there, mister Scott and mister Jordan, and a conference chair elist Dephonic is moderating and the members are standing before two mics, just in line, and there's no Republican you know, mike for one side for one caucus and one for another. It's just a Republican conservative monitor, conservative moderate lining up and asking questions and
each member gets to answer. And we're asking about everything from policy issues to you know, the way in which the vacancy was created, how the members feel about that, how members are needing to come together to unify, and the divisions that have really riven the conference. And we need to address those, and we need to be upfront about it and not just dance around. And that's what
we're doing. We're confronting each other. All the phones have been taken outside and putting cubbies, so no phones are in there. We're being honest with each other and that's a great way to handle our differences.
Yeah, and I'm sure you're going to hang up the phone with us and put it right back in the cubby, Congressman.
Before you head back. Get there.
As they are answering these questions, are there promises being made?
Not to my knowledge, members have been asked as Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan were asked if they had promised anything, and both said no, And so Austin Scott I haven't heard him get asked that question. But we prefer to just go up or down based on who we think the best leader will be for the conference and for the nation.
We've been hearing from Liz Cheney, Congressman about Jim Jordan. We just talked to Mark Short about this a moment ago here in studio. She tweeted today that Jim Jordan was involved in Trump's conspiracy to steal the election and seize power. He urged that Pence refused to count lawful electoral votes. If he becomes speaker, they will Republicans will be abandoning the Constitution.
What do you say in response to that?
We're the defenders of the constitution. We are the only branch or half of a branch of government that is standing firm for the Constitution, and we need to get a speaker elected so that the House can continue to stand strong for the Constitution. I'm disappointed in that kind of attack on a member of Congress. I've served with Liz Cheney. She didn't win her re election, and that's you know, she's able to have her point of view, but that's not the view inside the conference, and that's
not the view really for the country. The country's elected the Republican majority, and this Republican majority is going to represent the majority of Americans with Thomason Conservative policies moving forward.
So the allegations around Jim Jordan in January sixth were not brought up in the Republican Conference meeting.
Not to my knowledge. I've been in and out. I'm out right now, but not.
To my knowledge.
Yeah, Congressman, can you just give us a sense of while you're in the room there if there is a feeling that this is going to be wrapped up quickly or is there more discussion happening about potentially extending expanding the powers of Patrick McHenry and his pro tem position.
No, there are very few members who would support expanding the powers of a temporary speaker. That the office of temporary Speaker was only created after nine to eleven former Speaker McCarthy was able to put a list of members in an envelope that was not to be opened until he vacated the office. And when he did, it was Patrick McHenry at top. He's a very capable chairman of the Banking Committee, and he is doing a great job. But his only job is to move forward with electing
a new Speaker, and we're doing that right now. We anticipate that after this exchange of views occurs, we're going to have moved to a vote, and so hopefully we'll have it result today. That's our goal. And knock on wood as I say that.
Yeah, sure's the what's the feeling from some of those in the Freedom Caucus and outside of the Freedom Caucus who voted to als Kevin McCarthy. We heard Matt Gates say the other day long lived Speaker Scalise, he told us he'd vote for either Scalise or Jordan. Is the temperature coming down at all among that group? It's kind of been like a game of Whack a mole Congressman.
Each day. It's a different list of names who are opposed to something.
It is tough when you have a very slim majority. You've got an outsized influenced by a limited number. And what we have to make sure of is that all concerns are addressed and that everybody gets there. Say now, former Speaker McCarthy is being the leader that we know him to be. By standing up and saying we need to get behind Jim Jordan, and that says a lot.
Their relationship has not always been harmonious at times. They've both been on the hill a long time, so for them to come together at this point in time shows the gravity of the moment and the needs to elect a leader who's going to move us ahead quickly.
Congressman, you just referenced there the fact that the Republican Party is working with a very slim majority here, and there has been growing murmurs in the last twenty four hours about because of that, and because of what right now seems like an inability of the conference to coalesce around one candidate with two hundred and seventeen votes, that maybe there is work to be done with Democrats here.
What do you say to that, Well, I said, that's very unlikely. I mean, Republicans recognize that we lead best when we lead with Republicans, and so we hope to have a Republican speaker. We don't think that the agenda of the previous speaker before Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Pelosi, is the one we need to return to.
It.
Jacked up inflation rates, the excess spending has done a number on the budgets of hardworking families when it comes to the pump or at the grocery store, and we don't want to go back to that. We also want to stand up to this administration. This administration has been flouting the Constitution and we need to hold them accountable.
And so.
Majority Republican House is going to be able to continue to do that.
Corverson, You've been very generous with your time here, and we really do appreciate it. Has there been an effort inside the conference meeting to try to get ahead of that and send a message maybe to some moderate Republicans from a state like New York who might be considering voting for a Hakeim jeffreyes.
Well, I haven't spoken to a single New York Republican who's interested in voting for Rarekiing Jeffries most. In fact, some of the New York Republicans I've talked to have worked with Hakim Jeffries in the New York Assembly and know him to be a partisan who does not reach across the aisle, and that his rhetoric right now is really little more than an effort to interfere, and so chaos in the House majority. So we're going to continue
to work to elect a Republican majority. We're not going to fall take debate that Hakim Jeffries is trying to lure members in with his talk of bipartisanship for the first time that I've heard, and will continue to lead as a Republican majority that elected Republican speaker, and hopefully that'll happen later today.
Well, Congressman, your former Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy did work with Hakim Jeffries on some bipartisan initiatives, including the cr that ultimately led to his ouster the debt limit deal from earlier this year as well. Would you not want a future Speaker Jordan or whomever to work work with Democrats in the same way.
Well, we absolutely do, but we won't betray our principles on the altar of bipartisanship. What we have to do
is continue to lead in a conservative way. The American people think that the federal government is too big, too bloated, and does too much interferes in our lives and in our freedoms and our liberties too much, and so they're looking for a House that's going to take the lead in rolling back some of the successes spending, getting a woken weaponized government out of the budget, and we need to finish. We're only halfway through our appropriations bills in
the House. I'm on the Appropriations Committee. We're desperate to get back to work. The Senate hasn't passed a single appropriations bill. They're going to try and jam us later this year with omnibus, and we just can't allow that to happen. So we need to get back to work. The election of a speaker later today will help to make that happen.
Well.
Congressman, if there's an alter of bipartisanship, I want you to tell me where that is, because I'm going there.
Just to pick up on what you just said. Though you expect to vote today.
Yes, we will have a vote today. They're concluding the interviews right now of the candidates, and once that happens, we anticipate there to be a nomination in a vote, and we'll just see how the vote goes, and hopefully we'll have near to eighteen. I don't know that we're going to demand complete unanimity to go to the floor, but if we're close, then you may see an effort to move to the floor expeditiously.
Do you think, unlike Steve Scalice, Congressman, that Jim Jordan would be willing to put this on the floor immediately or is he going to try to whit more votes first?
Well, I think you want to make sure that everybody's united, and so if there are holdout then there will be no doubt there are still people who are frustrated with the way that the office was vacated and that the way that it's gone over the past two weeks. But I do think that those can be resolved. Those differences can be resolved, and I think given time, Jim Jordan
can work it out. Is it going to be three votes, four votes or the thirty votes that he's going to have to move to unify and that's going to dictate how much time we're going to need to move to the floor.
Wow, Congressman, thank you for stopping down for us. I hope we didn't get you in trouble with anyone on the staff here to take Congressman Benklin, the Republican from Virginia ducking out of the Republican Conference meeting in the House.
We'd love to stay in touch with you, sir. Thanks for listening to the Sound On podcast.
Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already, at Apple, Spotify.
And anywhere else you get your podcasts.
And you can find us live every weekday from Washington, DC at one pm Eastern Time at Bloomberg dot com