Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL) has escalated his increasingly personal attacks against Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) as moderates and establishment Republicans continue working to derail the GOP’s Speaker nominee.
Rutherford has demanded Jordan step down, insisting “the race is over” and even suggesting Republicans “either go to conference to show him in private or back to the floor to show him in public.”
The Florida Congressman, a stalwart supporter of increased taxpayer aid to Ukraine’s war effort, accused Jordan of “fiddling while the world is on fire.”
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, listens after he was not successful in the first ballot, as Republicans try to elect him to be the new House speaker, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Rutherford, who voted against Jordan on both ballots on the House floor this week, references Jordan winning 200 followed by 199 votes in his two rounds, short of the necessary 217, as a reason he should step aside.
Yet in January’s speaker election, Rutherford stood by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) throughout all fifteen rounds of voting, during which McCarthy’s vote totals similarly hovered around 200 through the first dozen rounds.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks during the House Republicans news conference in the Capitol to discuss defunding the Homeland Security Departments Disinformation Governance Board on Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
After one of those rounds McCarthy, too, lost support, yet he maintained Rutherford’s backing. McCarthy won on the 15th ballot by the slimmest of margins.
Rutherford has advocated for Republicans to work with Democrats to empower Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry and has echoed other anti-Jordan Republican talking points in several tweets, saying, “It’s time for the House to get back to work.”
Yet the Appropriations Committee, on which Rutherford serves, does not appear to have done much work during the 269 days in which this Congress had a Speaker.
The committee by law must submit each of the twelve appropriations bills to Congress by June 10 but failed to do so with all twelve bills.
Its inability to meet its legally required deadlines contributed to the House’s spending bill backlog heading into the end of the fiscal year on September 30. The ensuing shutdown showdown eventually resulted in the extension of spending levels and priorities previously approved by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-NY) and led to the ouster of McCarthy as Speaker.
The Committee failed to meet its deadlines in 2022 as well, though it did find time that year to usher a $13.6 billion supplemental Ukraine aid package into law. By passing supplemental spending legislation like the Ukraine package, Congress can spend more taxpayer dollars while working around its commitments to spend under budgetary caps.
Seats on the coveted Appropriations Committee are traditionally reserved for the most ardent allies of leadership. Crossing Republican leadership by voting against the leadership position can jeopardize one’s position on the committee.
Rutherford, a supporter of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) for Speaker, has referenced Scalise’s support of the majority of the GOP conference as the reason for backing the Louisianan. On Scalise’s winning ballot, Scalise won 113 votes to Jordan’s 99.
Yet Rutherford’s statement that Scalise won “by majority rule” is misleading. Three of Scalise’s votes in conference came from non-voting delegates from Guam, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico. These members are unable to vote for Speaker on the House floor.
Without those three votes from delegates, Scalise fell short of majority support inside the House GOP.
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 12: U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) walks away from members of the media after announcing that he is taking his name out of the running for U.S. Speaker of House on October 12, 2023 in Washington, DC. House Republicans are working to elect a new Speaker after the House passed a Motion to Vacate that removed former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from his post. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Current nominee Jordan, however, won the most recent nomination with a clear majority, garnering 124 votes.
Rutherford’s double standards are again on display in the tweet thread from October 11, the day Scalise won the GOP nomination before later dropping out after lacking a path to the speakership. Rutherford claimed every Republican should get behind the GOP nominee, saying “any member of the Republican Conference who doesn’t follow majority rule is just an obstructionist.”
Despite Jordan winning the GOP nomination just two days later, the “obstructionist” Rutherford has now voted against Jordan twice on the House floor.
Scalise also has been accused of working behind the scenes to undermine Jordan’s path to the Speakership, reportedly even refusing to give a nomination speech for Jordan despite Jordan agreeing to nominate Scalise on the House floor.
Rutherford is no stranger to controversy. In June 2022, the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into Rutherford for failure to disclose multiple stock trades in accordance with the law.
The Congressman reportedly paid thousands of dollars in fines for missing filing deadlines over multiple years but refused to meet with the committee, leading to the investigation’s formalization.
One of the stocks Rutherford purchased was Raytheon, which he purchased the same day Russia invaded Ukraine.
“The U.S. and our allies must impose the maximum possible sanctions & leave nothing off the table,” Rutherford said that day in a tweet.
Rutherford’s case is unique in that the Congressman serves on the Ethics Committee, sitting on its investigative branch.
The committee dismissed the charges in August 2022.
Follow Bradley Jaye on Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
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