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The party has been in a tailspin since a handful of hardliners forced out Kevin McCarthy eight days ago, leaving the Republican-controlled lower chamber of Congress unable to respond to mounting international and domestic challenges.
Scalise, the majority leader in the House and McCarthy’s longtime deputy, pipped firebrand Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan to the nomination by 113 votes to 99 in a secret ballot, multiple US media outlets reported.
The pair had looked evenly-matched, setting the stage for what could have been a grueling, drawn-out contest with several acrimonious rounds of voting.
But the path was cleared for Scalise, 58, after the defeat of a proposal to change the nominating threshold from a simple majority of the party’s 221 House members to 217 — the number needed to succeed in the full 433-member full House.
Steve Scalise speaks with reporters after he was nominated by Republicans today. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Some Republicans had argued for raising the nominating standard to ensure they do their fighting in private and are able present a united front when their nominee comes to the floor.
McCarthy’s truncated term began in chaos and public bickering in January, as Republicans almost came to blows over 15 bitter rounds of voting that played out on national television.
A gregarious lawmaker seen as a bridge between the most hardline conservatives and the party’s mainstream, Scalise has been in the leadership for almost a decade.
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It remains to be seen whether all of the lawmakers who voted for 59-year-old Jordan will coalesce behind Scalise in the House vote, which could come as early as Wednesday afternoon.
But the victory marks a stunning turnaround just one month after Scalise returned to work following a blood cancer diagnosis for which he has been undergoing chemotherapy.
The Louisiana native underwent surgery five years ago for a gunshot wound to the hip in an attack at a baseball practice near Washington.
‘Moral clarity’
Jordan, a darling of the hard-right, went into Wednesday’s contest with more endorsements than Scalise — including the coveted backing of former president Donald Trump.
But while Scalise now has momentum, his ultimate victory in the full House remains unclear.
Colorado’s Ken Buck, one of the rebels who ousted McCarthy, told reporters he had declined to vote for either potential replacement after asking them if the 2020 election was stolen and getting non-committal responses.
“If we don’t have the moral clarity to decide whether President Biden won or not, we don’t have the moral clarity to rule,” said Buck, who joined a failed 2020 lawsuit seeking to overturn Trump’s election defeat.
Texas lawmaker Troy Nehls told NBC he was unconvinced Republicans would unify behind any nominee, or that the loser would go quietly, while Colorado’s Lauren Boebert and Ohio’s Max Miller said they’d be voting for Jim Jordan on the House floor.
The drama has been playing out against the backdrop of an escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas militants who launched a deadly attack at the weekend, with a paralyzed Congress unable to authorize new emergency aid for the US ally.
Lawmakers have until November 17 to reauthorize federal spending levels and avert a damaging government shutdown.
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I’m wiping the tears from my face as I type this and I’m not ashmed to say so. Your story touched me on so many levels! You’ve come through so much and come across through your story as a wonderfully caring human being but even more so a wonderful parent! I don’t know you but you humble me!
Wow. In the face of adversity you have shown immence bravery and resilience. Thank you for sharing a chapter of your life. I wish you and your family all the best for the future.
Thank you for sharing your story. As a dad of two little ones, it hurts my heart to think that there are children today experiencing what you went through. Best of luck to you and your family.
Fantastic piece that lots of children in Ireland can relate to unfortunately but I must give the person that wrote it credit for her bravery. Your bravery is incredible.
I can relate to this in so many ways my father was an alcoholic . I would go to school most mornings like a zombie because I would be up all night listening to him screaming like a mad man and I wouldn’t dare try to go downstairs or I would get it too . whenever there was a family occasion he destroyed it . he too had a terrible childhood and I do think this was to blame for most of it . he controlled everything sometimes right down to when I could speak . for a few months every year he went off the drink and they are the good times I try to remember . he died in his forties and after a while we were able to start living life . I wish the author the very best in life .
Sorry to hear that suzie and I also admire and respect both you and the author.. I also relate, Periods of extreme violence which were only broken by periods of extreme neglect which led to me being referred to a church representative who then abused me. I had a very good person for a mother who would try to protect us as much as she could but it just wasn’t possible and in the end any one of us would have preferred we get the abuse she took often when protecting us. She died when I was in my early 20s and my father still lives. I have made peace with him and have learned to separate the person he was and the person he now is.
thank you Dell , I can’t imagine what you’ve been through . full respect to you for being able to make peace with your father . I still have never told anybody about what happened in our home because I just couldn’t talk like this out loud . I hope you’re doing well , Dell
I am, I have a good life with two great kids who are now adults themselves. I think my family were fortunate to have had the mother we did. You, the author and I and thousands of others have no reason to be ashamed. We may not agree on somethings but I think you should be proud of yourself for getting through what you did and building your own life. Whether you decide to speak about it out loud or not should depend on whether you feel it will help and should be done when you are ready to. It’s not an easy thing to do. I did get counselling and I found it helpful but incredibly difficult at times.
I’m glad to hear you are doing well and you’re right nobody should feel ashamed , it’s hard when you come from a family where everything was brushed under the carpet . I’m glad life turned out well for you in the end and thank you for your kind words .
Thanks for writing this piece. I think many people reading it will relate. Good luck with the rest of your life, may all your days from now on be happier ones, you deserve that much.
Unfortunatley I can relate to all this too, so much from the authors post hits home with me, the trips to various chemists after they all stopped selling codeine products to my parents (which was unfortunate because unlike alcohol it subdued my father and we had some peace) I still hate the smell of sherry or buckfast it triggers such bad memories. I usually went to school on about four hours sleep. I somehow scraped a basic Leaving Cert but the one thing that drove me was that I never wanted to be like my father – a lazy sponger who barely worked a day in his life. I worked my backside off in my 20s and have a relatively good job now. I now have children and in a way I get to re create the childhood I never had from basic things like 3 meals a day and a warm cozy bed to days filled with happiness – my own childhood & adolescent years were filled with fear worry, lies & secrets. But more than anything the thing that fills my heart with pride the most is how much my kids adore their Dad he really is a wonderful man and the fact that their childhood is so far removed from my own makes me so happy. The sadness I feel for what I went through in childhood is outweighed by the pride I feel that I am the absolute opposite of my father, he didnt succeed in destroying me. Like the other 2 fathers mentioned here also died young, in his 50s. Small loss.
Sarah , I hear you because of what happened in our childhood we try and make sure its the complete opposite to ours . we try make happy memories for the kids and do all the things with them that we never got or had . it used to bother my father because he was never able to break me so instead I was allowed to speak . its interesting how codeine has been mentioned because I used to have a lot of anger inside of me over what he did and took it a while too . glad to hear you got through it sarrah .
Exactly, its just getting to experience what a carefree childhood is like. I remember being in friends houses and I would be so envious their normal, ordinary homelife. A warm house and no worry. I had anger in my 20s for what I had gone through but in my 30s now I think I realise how lucky I am that I didn’t descend down the same route. The other posters mention forgiving their father, this would not be me, I have nothing but hatred for the man, in his final years he was weak and feeble but I had no sympathy for him, in my opinion he was pure evil, a looser who got his kicks from bullying and terrorising his children. Good to see you stayed strong too Suzy, guess we are proof that what dosn’t kill you makes you stronger!
Lol Suzie not being allowed to speak was a feature of my upbringing too, had to listen while he ranted, raved and preached at me working himself up into a temper. I’d talk for Ireland now though! :)
that’s it Sarrah , alcohol to some people is the devil and my father was the devil when he was drinking , I don’t really feel anything for him . I try to think more about the man he was when he was off it , but you’re right it does make you stronger !
Oh gosh! I was 17 when I decided life wasn’t worth living. I swallowed everything the doctors had prescribed for me over the previous year or two. There was no such thing as over-prescribing those days so I had dozens of tablets available for an overdose. I went at it with a will during a black episode where everything seemed hopeless. I have come to think that people don’t try to end their lives because things are lousy. I think it’s because they think things are hopeless – in other words, because things are not going to change.
I couldn’t conceive at the time how much life does change and how often. And I never could conceive how much I would change over time either. To anyone thinking that it’s all over, I say use every ounce of patience you can muster and wait for the clouds to move on. They will.
Makes me sad, thankfully I didn’t have that childhood but a neighbouring child did and what’s worse she grew up and married an an alcoholic and is going through a difficult time herself, she’s an intelligent educated woman but she still made a bad choice, is it a common thing for people who had tough childhoods to marry into bad relationships? :-(
This is the problem with Ireland. We all know this father, these kids and this family. No one wants to get involved. We all work so hard to mind our own business that children are ruthlessly advised when a call to the guards would rescue then from hell.
For people living with issues of substance misuse help and support are available through the National Family Support Network. For more information please visit http://www.fsn.ie
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