WASHINGTON >> The second-ranking House Republican and the chair of the Judiciary Committee today both announced their campaigns for speaker, setting the stage for a bruising struggle pitting some of the most conservative GOP leaders against one another.

One day after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy as the House’s leader threw the chamber into a state of paralysis, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, said he would try to become speaker. Jordan’s bid sets up a challenge with Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, currently the No. 2 House Republican, who also announced he would run, and potentially others.

The contenders were all sounding out potential supporters, but no real deliberations were to occur before Tuesday.

The vacancy at the top of the House was creating mounting concerns at the Capitol and the White House about the fate of spending legislation — including hoped-for funding for Ukraine — due in 40 days when it was uncertain when the House would resume functioning and who would be at the helm of the Republican conference.

At the White House, President Joe Biden began an announcement on student loan debt relief today by addressing chaos in the House and calling on lawmakers to change the “poisonous atmosphere in Washington.”

“We cannot and should not again be faced with an eleventh-hour decision or brinkmanship that threatens to shut down the government,” he said. “And we know what we have to do, and we gotta — we have to get it done in a timely fashion.”

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers also raised alarm about the predicament Congress found itself in

“I want my country to be at work,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chair of the Appropriations Committee. “We have a job to do.”

After a historic vote to remove McCarthy from the speakership Tuesday, lawmakers quickly departed Washington and scattered to their districts around the country, abandoning the Capitol as Republicans remained deeply divided over who could lead their fractious majority. The sudden departure and the stasis in the House meant that little could be done in Washington even as Congress faced a mid-November deadline to keep the government funded.

“We now find ourselves in a dangerous situation,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader. “With about 40 days to go before the government shuts down, the House has ground completely to a halt.

“Until Republicans stop their infighting, the House can vote on no bills,” he said. “No appropriations work can get done. If, God forbid, some national crisis were to occur that demands immediate action, the House would be unable, unable to quickly respond.”

Others noted that even if the House was able to select its new speaker sometime next week, it would take time for that person to ramp up.

“It is going to take a while to get the train back on the tracks,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., a former House member who has close ties to Republicans in that chamber.

The comments underscored the chaos now gripping the chamber, without the ability to conduct legislative business, until a successor to McCarthy is chosen. The decision by McCarthy to not seek the post again after being unceremoniously deposed at the hands of the far right touched off a competitive race to succeed him.

The vacancy promised to tee up another potentially messy speaker election at a time when Congress has just over 40 days to avert another potential government shutdown. But it was not yet clear who might run.

Discussions on the future of the conference were being led by Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina. McCarthy, R-Calif., had named McHenry first on a list of potential interim speakers in the event of a calamity or vacancy, but his primary task is to preside over the election of a new speaker. McHenry has long dismissed the prospect of seeking the top post himself though he could ultimately face a push to draft him if the party is unable to coalesce around another choice.

Jordan, the politically combative chair of the House Judiciary Committee, made clear his intentions this morning as he headed into a meeting of Texas Republicans who were conducting interviews with contenders. Thirty-eight Republicans from the state sit in the House out of 221 total, making their voting bloc crucial in the speaker’s race and giving them leverage.

“I think I can unite the conservative base and the party and the conference; that’s why I’m running,” Jordan said on his way into lunch with the Texans.

In the past, Jordan was often at odds with his own party’s leadership, but he built an alliance with McCarthy and when Republicans won the House majority last year worked more in concert with the leadership as head of the committee.

Scalise sent a letter to his colleagues today laying out his candidacy and emphasizing his experience as the second in command under McCarthy.

“I have a proven track record of bringing together the diverse array of viewpoints within our conference to build consensus where others thought it impossible,” Scalise said. The Louisianian was badly wounded in a 2017 shooting at a baseball practice of congressional Republicans but has steadily recovered. He recently disclosed he was being treated for blood cancer.

Other names that have surfaced as potential contenders include Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., the Rules Committee chair; as well as the No. 3 House Republican, Tom Emmer of Minnesota, who, according to people who have talked with him, is angling for the No. 2 post of majority leader.

Under the current tentative schedule, Republicans intend to hold a party meeting Tuesday at which the contenders will be able to make their case before their colleagues, with the possibility of picking their choice for speaker for a possible floor vote today.

The nominee needs only to secure the majority of the House Republicans to be selected but would have to win a majority of the House, a tall order given the rift among Republicans that made it so difficult for McCarthy to win the post and do the job for the nine months that he held it. Right-wing Republicans have made clear that they will not support a speaker without assurances that they will see their priorities, including enacting deep spending cuts and severe immigration restrictions, met.

That is nearly impossible to promise given that Democrats control the Senate and the White House. And the situation could be a recipe for further dysfunction on Capitol Hill, most immediately in negotiations on federal spending. The House and Senate must agree by mid-November on the 12 annual appropriations bills to fund the government in the fiscal year that began Sunday, something that cannot be done without a speaker in place.

Should a new Republican speaker be chosen, the pressure would be immense for that person to push for spending levels far below what McCarthy had agreed to in a debt deal with Biden in the spring. Changing the terms of that deal would prompt a clash with the Senate, which is adhering to the agreement.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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