The latest GOP speaker nominee has a history of targeting federal employees

As the House continues to languish for more than two weeks without a speaker, the Republican majority has nominated a conservative with a track record of taking a hardline approach to the federal workforce. 

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has, as of Wednesday, failed in two votes to become House speaker, with at least 20 of his Republican colleagues and all Democrats voting against him. After the second such failed vote Wednesday, Jordan vowed to push forward to win over his detractors. He is looking to succeed Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who was ousted from the post and who originally required 15 votes before he won sufficient support earlier this year. That marked the first time in 100 years that a speaker candidate lost a recorded vote. 

As a congressman since 2007, Jordan has yet to shepherd a single piece of legislation to be enacted as law. He has introduced few bills, particularly since 2015. As a fiscal hawk and a former ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, however, he has a more extensive history on issues involving federal operations, oversight and employees. 

Jordan formerly chaired the Republican Study Committee, where he helped craft legislation that would have imposed five years of pay freezes for federal employees and cut the workforce by 15% through attrition and a two-out, one-in policy. He also pushed to apply to the entire federal workforce an increase for new federal employees’ contributions toward their pensions. Jordan led vigorous oversight of the Obama administration, especially focusing on the Internal Revenue Service, and faced criticism from Democrats for failing to hold the Trump administration to the same standard. 

The congressman has previously shown a willingness to shut down the government, voting frequently against spending measures aimed at averting a closure of agencies and actually leading the charge of the 16-day shutdown in 2013. He led that charge to revoke funding for President Obama’s signature health care legislation, the Affordable Care Act, but his efforts were unsuccessful. He also supported the record-setting shutdown in 2018 that lasted 35 days.

This time around, the speaker-hopeful is pledging to take a different approach. 

Jordan has pitched his colleagues on a spending plan that would extend the current continuing resolution to keep agencies funded at their current levels through April. That could pose a significant challenge for agencies, as the Fiscal Responsibility Act that President Biden signed into law earlier this year after negotiations with House Republicans to raise the debt ceiling created an automatic, across-the-board 1% spending that would take effect May 1, 2024, and be retroactive to the beginning of the year. 

By Jordan’s estimation, that would incentivize Democrats to give in to Republican demands on full-year spending measures. Even if that tactic were successful, it would create a hectic period for agencies in which they had to pack a year’s worth of funding adjustments into just five months. If the approach failed to bring about regular appropriations and the 1% reduction took effect, agencies would face a sequestration that could lead to furloughs and haphazard program cuts.  

As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in the current Congress, Jordan has once again shown his willingness to take a combative approach with executive branch officials. He has led the charge in ramping up investigations into the FBI and the Justice Department, particularly concerning various investigations into the affairs of Biden’s family. Jordan previously served as President Trump’s most vocal defender in criticizing Justice and other officials involved in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the former president’s alleged involvement with Russia. 

While Jordan is not known for his legislative track record, one of the few bills he did put forward in recent years was aimed at federal employees. The measure, introduced earlier this year, would have blocked any agency worker from aiding in the censoring of speech on online platforms. He also helped usher in the creation of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which has focused on that alleged censorship, and border security. 

Jordan also sought to create additional oversight of federal agencies in 2013, when he introduced a bill that would have required them to document to Congress exactly how much they spent on conferences as a means to restrict future spending. In 2009, he put forward a measure that would have called on inspectors general to evaluate annually whether agencies should be reorganized or eliminated. 

Jordan’s climb toward the speakership remains steep. After an initial failed vote on Tuesday, his second effort on Wednesday saw him shed even more support. While he pledged to continue fighting for the role, some Republicans have pitched alternative options—such as passing a resolution to allow Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., to operate with full legislative authorities.