Rep. Flood spearheads Unity Pledge

As of Sunday night, seven House lawmakers pushed for a Unity Pledge to elect a new House speaker, including Nebraska representative Mike Flood.

The two-paragraph pledge, which Flood spearheaded, asks lawmakers to accept whoever the House Republican conference  in a secret ballot election scheduled on Tuesday.

A Politico report says Flood is organizing a bloc of Republicans to withhold support from candidates unless they press their backers to sign the pledge.

https://flood.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-flood-launches-unity-pledge-speakers-race

The text of the Unity Pledge reads as follows:

“House Republicans need to elect a Speaker as soon as possible in order to return to work on behalf of the American people. It is time to put politics and personalities aside and unite behind the next Republican Conference choice for Speaker.

I, _______ , hereby pledge to support the Speaker Designate duly elected by the House Republican Conference—regardless of who that candidate is—when their election proceeds to the House Floor. Further, I pledge to vote for the Speaker Designate on the House Floor for as long as they remain the Speaker Designate. 

Six speaker candidates have thrown their support to the Unity Pledge:

Rep. Bergman, Rep. Emmer, Rep. Hern, Rep. Johnson, Rep. Scott and Rep. Sessions.

 

The Associated Press reported Sunday that Republicans have dropped Jim Jordan as their nominee for speaker. Jordan failed Friday in a third try for the speaker’s gavel previously held by Kevin McCarthy.

Despite Jordan’s backing by former President Donald Trump, more than two dozen Republicans  opposed the Ohio congressman’s nomination.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise said they would “start over” Monday. New nominees are to come forward for a candidate forum and internal party votes.

Exasperated with no easy solutions in sight, Rep. Mark Alford, a freshman from Missouri, was far from alone in expressing his anger and disappointment.

"I gave up my career to come here to do something for America, to rebuild our military, to get spending under control, to secure our border — and here we are in this quicksand,” he said.

Mike Flood is the founder and an owner of Flood Communications and News Channel Nebraska.