Steve Scalise nominated by Republicans to be next House speaker: Highlights

First things first: We don't know yet for sure when the House will vote on a speaker.

The pause comes down to the fact that Scalise doesn’t have the votes to get to 217 right now. We can count several lawmakers who say they’re against Scalise, including Boebert, Good, Roy, Massie, Cloud, Max Miller, Greene and Luna.

That’s more than the four Scalise can afford to lose. Some are harder in their “noes” than others, but the numbers aren’t where Scalise needs them to be regardless.

There’s a number of reasons these members are against him. Some don’t like that he’s associated with the “status quo,” having served as House majority leader under McCarthy. Some don’t think he has an adequate plan for funding the government. Others don’t like how quickly he tried to move to the floor for a vote.

Democratic leadership sources told us they believe they'll get an hour's heads-up from Republicans when it's time to bring the vote to the floor, but nothing is certain. McHenry told members after the closed-door election this morning that they could get 15 minutes lead time or an hour.

Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., posted on X that he plans to vote for Jordan when the speaker vote comes to the floor.

He wrote: "The House GOP Conference is broken. So we oust Kevin McCarthy and all other leaders are rewarded with promotions? How does that make sense or change anything?"

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., told reporters today that she will support Scalise for speaker when the formal vote takes place on the House floor.

"After talking to Representative Scalise, I feel very confident that he's going to allow me to aggressively pursue justice for this country in this nation," Luna said after she said her priorities include investigating special counsel Jack Smith, holding an impeachment vote and subpoenaing Hunter Biden.

"And so I'll be supporting him on the floor," she said of Scalise. "But again, that is because he will be aggressively allowing me to pursue and do my job."

McCarthy said Scalise has his support when the speaker vote comes to the floor.

He also said Scalise will need to talk to fellow GOP lawmakers beforehand.

"Look, Steve’s going to have to talk to them all, see what the concerns are," McCarthy told reporters. "But I’m supporting Steve."

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said this afternoon that he's in no hurry for a House floor vote in the speaker's race.

"I did not want this to go to the floor before we're united, and we should have done that this morning. It was not done," Roy told reporters in the Capitol.

Asked about his support for Scalise, Roy said that he was "very open-minded to figuring out how we can come and unite" but that the rush to vote Scalise forward last night and this morning caused a "setback" in his support.

“So we’ll go now have some conversations and go figure out where we’re going to go,” Roy said.

Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, one of the eight Republicans who voted to remove McCarthy last week, says he will vote for Scalise as the new speaker.

“He understands fiscal conservatism. He has a track record of handling tough legislation in the past, and I think that’s going to serve him very well," Burchett said.

The House went into recess — which means it could come back into session at any time.

A source with direct knowledge the situation said Jordan plans to vote for Scalise on the floor and is encouraging his colleagues to do the same. 

A spokesperson said earlier this afternoon that Jordan plans to give the nomination speech for Scalise on the floor.