the chair.

>> i got told that jim jordan who campaigned strongly for speaker against steve scalise is offering to make the nominating speech for steve scalise on the floor of the house and he's also planning to vote for steve scalise and is urging his colleagues to do so. a number of those holdouts who said they won't vote for scalise are ones that have said they want to vote for jim jordan on

the floor. the house wants to get this wrapped up as quickly as possible with the international crisis in israel and the domestic issues with spending and the looming government shutdown dead line in mid november. they want to get this wrapped up as quickly as possible. >> what happens to the motion to vacate? where does that debate stand? guest: so the problem with the motion to vacate, there's obviously members within the republican conference who want that rule changed. the problem is that that's no longer a conference rule, that is a house rule. so it's a little bit higher of a threshold to get that rule changed. there's members, like i said, who don't want that to be the case anymore. they think the motion to vacate should be higher than the one person threshold to trigger

that. we'll have to see what steve scalise says about it now that he's the speaker nominee and once he's officially elected as speaker of the house. host: would there be 217 votes to raise the threshold from one person offering a motion to vacate. what has congressman matt gaetz said about that? guest: i mean, matt gaetz obviously was one of the ones that led the push to have a motion to vacate and triggered the motion to vacate that ultimately sunk kevin mccarthy but this week he said he's made the point to reporters that he doesn't want to govern by a motion to vacate. a motion to vacate was just a leverage point and something that was used within the negotiating tactics with speaker mccarthy. but he's made clear that he thinks that steve scalise and jim jordan, no matter who would have made it out of this race,

are better option and would be an upgrade over kevin mccarthy and signaled he would be willing to move off of the motion to vacate threshold if other -- if they gave matt gaetz more concessions and some other republicans other concessions to get rid of that threshold. so we'll have to see how many members are willing to have that conversation or if there's just too much on their plates with spending, with the international crisis, to just go for it and get done their work, with that one-person threshold looming over whoever the speaker may be. host: if they were to bring a proposal to the floor to raise the threshold from one person, how would democrats vote? guest: i don't think that democrats are going to vote to raise that threshold. i mean, we saw with the ouster of kevin mccarthy, democrats aren't interested in getting involved in the infighting of house republicans. they have been very hands-off with it. i think that they would take the

same approach to any rules change that republicans are fighting about. so that would be my expectation if we did get to that point. host: want to thank you as well on a very busy day for all the capitol hill reporters. thank you for spending some time with us. guest: thank you for having me. host: let's go to calls. richard in titusville, florida. an independent. hi there, richard. caller: thank you. i'm very concerned about the situation. i'm an independent but the republicans have not done terribly well with the speakers in recent years. i say with the exception of mccarthy. who has done a great job. and i'm laboring why he was released as he was. while i like scalise, i really think the man who should lead is jim jordan. he has about -- i would say about 90% in terms of what he's

done publicly. let's say to press forward the republican position. and as an independent, i certainly wouldn't push on the democrats' side. it appears that the democrats are a little more interested in scalise and for that reason, very frankly, and others, i would much rather jim jordan the one who is going to lead. i think he has the energy. far more energy on the floor. he's better well known. i think he can make the difference. and at a time like this, we really don't need more compromisers. the idea of looking across to the other side, we spent a little too much time thinking in terms of what the other side will do and how they'll respond and how we don't want to hurt their feelings and all that. jordan stands, very fra alone in this as i see it. to bri forth something respe for a change.

and -- host: with such a slim majority, though, how do you not reach across the aisle to get legislation passed and over to the senate, something that the senate then can pass as well, and sent to the president? caller: well i do degree, you need to reach across the aisle. but that's got to be secondary to basically presenting your position. and the there's a clear difference between the democrats and i think they reach a little too soon and they're a little too concerned about hurting the feelings of the other side. it's about time the republicans take a stand. it's one of the reasons i'm not a republican, because i don't see them as active as they should be. host: all right. ok. i'm going to hear from susan next in omaha, nebraska. republican. caller: hello. host: hi. thanks for waiting. go ahead.

caller: ok. as i see it, why are they fighting for one thing between themselves? they had august off. they did nothing. they ended up -- and then this happened. and it just seems to me that nothing's getting done and if the government goes belly-up, my husband is a veteran, so what's going to happen there? what's going to happen to people on social security? what is going to happen to people on fixed incomes? do they really care about us? and why aren't they doing anything? i just don't understand it. and i worked for herman cane at god father's pizza, he was running for president.

and all they seemed to do is bad mouth each other. they're almost abusive verbally to each other, rude, crude, you name it. and they're filthy people. i mean, they end up -- my friend had a paper and it said, how many congressmen, senate, how many of these people have killed people, killed their wives -- host: ok, all right, susan. a report from capitol hill. here's one reporter tweeting out or putting on x moments ago -- asked if the house is recessing because scalise doesn't have the votes to become speaker. mchenry deflects, the speaker pro tempore. quote, we're in an unprecedented moment. this is the fastest speaker's election in modern history. here is jennifer also saying --

host: so it sounds like there's effort under way to have this vote on the house floor today. the house came in just moments ago at 3:00 p.m. eastern time, recessed right away. so we will wait to see what they do, if they can, if steve scalise can get the votes that he needs, which is 217. he had 113 votes behind closed doors. 99 of his colleagues voted for jim jordan. he has to get to 217 is their hope before this vote is taken on the house floor today. so you heard from there, quote, from capitol hill reporters that patrick mchenry is hoping that can happen today. nancy in ohio. democratic caller. caller: hello. host: hi, nancy. caller: hi. i just want to urge our democrats across the aisle,

support scalise. we just cannot afford to have a man as evil as jim jordan is. he's a trumper through and through. we need scalise in as the speaker of the house. host: all right, nancy. some texts from our viewers. here's one saying it's a republican house, trump has 60% support of republicans. the speaker of the house should reflect the will of the majority. and then here is another one -- host: remember, that was 15 rounds in january when kevin mccarthy was nominated.

host: dan in ohio. independent. hi, dan. caller: hi, how are you? host: doing fine. your reaction to what's happening on capitol hill today? caller: well, both sides -- i've been voting since the 1960's. and ever since the -- i want to say the 1980's, late 1980's forward, things have just gotten crazier and crazier in both houses. but not as much in the senate as it is in the congress, the house. but all of them have their bad sides. i'm talking democrats and republicans. they're all just bad. we don't have any good representatives in there. if you go out and you do research on a lot of these

politicians, they're all -- they've all got baggage. whether it's insider trading, making money on the side for themselves. it's just gotten worse and worse and we're living in a world, especially here in the u.s., where reality's not reality anymore. host: all right, dan. dan in ohio. you're looking at a shot of the u.s. capitol, outside of that. as reporters still doing stand-ups following that vote behind closed doors with republicans to nominate steve scalise as their nominee for speaker of the u.s. house of representatives. he garnered 113 votes. jim jordan scored 99. now what's happening is they are trying to get steve scalise and his allies, trying to get to the house floor and trying behind closed doors to convince those 99 to vote for him when they do vote on the house floor.

he needs 217 republicans to support him. there are 221 republicans in the house. they have two vacancies. that is why the magic number is 217. cnn posting this -- host: patrick in indiana, republican. let's hear from you. caller: hi, good afternoon. host: hi. caller: my thinking on the speakership is we -- hearing all the democrats say they support steve scalise tells me all that i need to knot steve scalise being a.

jim jordan is the man for this. jim is the one who i believe will bring forward a budget balance. we're running $2 tril a year deficit. and there's no way in the world that we're ever going to pay that off. and it's my grandchildren that are going to suffer from this. i also add that, you know, matt gaetz said that he would support a motion to vacate for the one vote to vacate if people would give in to term limits, to single budget spending bills. and that came from a democrat who he was supporting on this. and in my opinion, that's what we need. we need single-budget spending

and to be fiscally conservative. if you ran a business the way that the government is running the country, you'd be out of business in six months. there's no way that you can continue to spend, spend, spend and it's just sickening to me what my grandchildren and my possible great-grand childrenche going to deal with with this. this is just totally crazy and i support jim jordan fully. like i said, listening to democrats and other people saying that they would rather see scalise tells me that scalise is a rhino. host: all right. patrick's thoughts there in indiana. "politico" tweeting out --

host: that was a pre freedom caucus meeting that he was leaving. so happening behind the scenes, steve scalise, who garnered 113 votes of his colleagues to be the nominee for speaker, he's working now to get the 217 he needs for a floor vote. donnie in long beach, mississippi. republican. hi, johnny. caller: how are you doing, ma'am? thank you for having me. host: you bet. go ahead. caller: i'm a disabled vet and i did two tours in iraq. there's a lot of things people don't understand about the people in iraq and the people in iran and what we're going through right now. there's a lot of things going on in foreign countries all over abroad and i feel that the people of the u.s. really need to understand just how serious the border is and how many people come across and where they're coming from.

at the same time i feel that the u.s. will be experiencing some of of the same things we're seeing abroad if we don't do something and do it fast. the twin towers was very bad, but at the same time i feel that what's about to happen could be even worse if we don't get a hold on things. host: does that mean you want them to move quickly up here? to have a speaker in place so they can pass some legislation? caller: putting a speaker in place, will it help? possibly it could help. but right now i feel that there's things happening that people don't -- are not aware of. host: all right. ok. i'm going to get in raymond who is in new york. democratic caller. raymond. caller: hello. how are you? i would like to say, as a veteran who served in vietnam, i'm sick and tired of the

government not doing the right thing. whether they're democrat, republican or what. the bottom line is iran's been a problem from the very beginning when they overthrew the shah and i think it's time to realize that if iran gets nuclear weapons, the whole middle east is going up in smoke. host: all right. republicans have been under pressure to act quickly to get a speaker in place so that the house of representatives can move on a resolution for -- in support of israel and also to approve aid in support of israel. some reaction from our viers and text messages.

host: if you missed any of the moments from this afternoon on this behind closed doors vote for a nominee to become speaker, you can find it all if you go to our website, c-span.org. you can also find it on our c-span now free mobile app. you can find it all there. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2023] >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we're funded by these television companies and more. including cox. >> this syndrome