The latest on the House speaker race

House Republicans emerged from today's closed-door meeting that went on for more than three hours with a new plan: Scrap the resolution that would empower interim Speaker Patrick McHenry and go forward with more floor votes for Jim Jordan's speakership bid.

Members left the room saying that Jordan said it was his intention to hold another floor vote today instead of moving forward with a resolution to expand McHenry's powers. 

But another floor vote would be contingent on three things – all of which have caveats – and show how unrealistic and steep Jordan's hill is to climb. 

According to Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie: Jordan needs to call his wife; speak to as many of the 22 GOP members who voted against him as he can to see if they are movable; and have a discussion with Kevin McCarthy about whether the former speaker would nominate him on the House floor. 

Most of the 22 Republicans who voted against Jordan on the second ballot yesterday have said they are firm in their position. Some have even received threats as the result of their opposition to Jordan. Massie said a number of the 22 members are not answering Jordan's calls.

GOP Rep. Dave Joyce, who has been leading the charge on the McHenry measure, signaled that he isn’t walking away from his resolution completely, warning he could still bring it up at any time. He said he will continue to work and is still worried about a House that is not acting. 

CNN's Lauren Fox, Clare Foran, Sam Fossum and Manu Raju contributed reporting to this post.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan says he’s still running for House speaker and plans to talk to the Republican members who voted against his bid for the gavel.

He would not answer when asked if House lawmakers were going to the floor today.

Several House Republicans had told CNN earlier that Jordan supported a resolution to empower interim Speaker Patrick McHenry until January as Jordan works to shore up support for his own speakership bid. But Jordan appeared to back off that support in his remarks.

"We made the pitch to members on the resolution as a way to lower the temperature and get back to work. We decided that wasn't where we're going to go," Jordan said.

Some House Republicans said that there would be another floor vote today to try and elect a speaker.

New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis said that they would give Jordan “a couple of hours” to speak with holdouts before they go to the floor.

“I think that’s what we are trying, to give him a couple of hours to do now, and I think we will have a vote,” she said.

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who led the effort to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker earlier this month, agreed.

“I think we’re going to have another Jim Jordan vote,” he said. “Today, I can’t wait to go vote for him.”

Gaetz added: “What I’m really happy with is this did not end with the desire to have speaker-lite or a ratified speaker pro tempore. It’s our obligation to elect a speaker, and I’m glad we were able to throw cold water on speaker-lite.”

Florida Rep. Byron Donalds said that the House GOP Conference will not move forward with a resolution that would grant interim Speaker Patrick McHenry more power in his role.

Donalds said the votes “are just not there” for the resolution.

“And to my colleagues who wanted to support it, I understand why they wanted to support it. Because look, time is of the essence because (of) a lot of things that we have to do. But the No. 1 thing that this body must do was elect a speaker before you conduct any business.

So what happens now? Donalds says the plan moving forward still lies with House Speaker designee Jim Jordan, whom he says will have his support indefinitely.

“I’m with Jim Jordan until Jim Jordan says he doesn't want to run anymore,” Donalds said.

The House GOP Conference meeting is now going on three hours and has grown increasingly heated, with no clear path forward on a resolution to temporarily empower interim Speaker Patrick McHenry.

Lawmakers in the room are debating the resolution — which has received fierce pushback from conservatives and others in the conference, despite the fact that Speaker designee Jim Jordan has gotten behind the idea. Others have argued that such a move is the only viable option to re-open the House given that no speaker candidate seems to be able to get 217 votes. 

But some lawmakers say the prospects for the resolution look grim right now.

Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan, who voted against Jordan's speakership bid in the second round of voting Wednesday, said the measure appears “dead.”

And former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whose ouster earlier this month precipitated the current crisis, said he doesn’t think the resolution should come to the floor unless it has the support of a majority of the conference's support — which Republicans do not believe it has at this point.

A GOP leadership aide tells CNN that no decisions have been made about if and how they’re going to bring this forward.

Florida Rep. Brian Mast said House Republicans in the closed-door conference meeting are debating whether it is constitutional to empower interim Speaker Patrick McHenry any further until a new permanent speaker is elected.

Several House Republicans have told CNN that Speaker designee Jim Jordan supports the plan to enhance McHenry's powers as interim speaker until January as the Ohio Republican works to shore up support for his own speakership bid.

Empowering McHenry would expand his ability beyond just administering a speaker vote to potentially moving legislation through the chamber, although the specifics aren't clear as yet.

The level of frustration at an ongoing House Republican Conference meeting remains “high,” Florida Rep. Mike Waltz told CNN as he lambasted the eight GOP lawmaker who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker and plunged the chamber into chaos.

He continued: "Where I come from, as a veteran, if you're going to blow a bridge, you better have another one to cross and those eight clearly didn't have another one to cross before they blew this bridge."

Washington Rep. Dan Newhouse said Republicans "need to reset” when asked about keeping Jim Jordan as the speaker designee.

Jordan, lacking the votes to become speaker, is poised to pivot strategy by backing a plan to expand the power of interim Speaker Patrick McHenry for the rest of the year, a move that is already triggering a backlash from some members of his party.

Reps. Andy Ogles of Tennessee and Mark Alford of Missouri told CNN they’re firmly opposed to the idea of empowering McHenry. 

Asked if it was a tense meeting, Alford said, “Look, we’re a family, and every family has squabbles. I’ve been married 34 years, and I’ve had my share. But I also know it’s worth it on the other end when you resolve those.”

When asked about the mood at the GOP conference meeting over supporting the interim speaker resolution, Alford said there was “a lot of pressure.”  

“It takes a lot of pressure to create a diamond. I think that’s what we’re trying to mine in there. If it’s not going to be Jim Jordan, so be it. Right now, I’m behind Jim Jordan. I think a lot of people are until he withdraws his name.”

Ogles said he is a “big fan of Patrick McHenry” but opposes the resolution that would expand his powers regardless of who the interim speaker is.

Ogles predicted that if the interim speaker resolution is voted on this afternoon, “it will fail.” He said “quite a few” Republicans spoke out against the measure at the closed-door meeting.

Ogles said he has pushed for Republicans working through weekends to elect a speaker.

“When members start losing weekends, they’ll come to a resolution. They’ll figure out who they can vote for," the Tennessee lawmaker said.

A closed-door meeting of the House GOP Conference turned heated today, multiple sources tell CNN, a further sign of chaos as Republicans struggle to elect a speaker. 

At one point, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who led the effort to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker, was told to sit down by McCarthy but refused. Illinois Rep  Mike Bost then “got all emotional and ugly and was cussing him” and “telling him it’s all his fault,” one member said. 

Other lawmakers, including some who support Jim Jordan's speakership bid, slammed the Ohio Republican for backing an expected resolution to empower interim Speaker Patrick McHenry, calling him "self-serving." Some members encouraged him to drop out of the race. 

There was also an emotional and heated discussion over the death threats that some GOP lawmakers who oppose Jordan for speaker have faced.

Exiting the meeting, Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher said he was “going to the chapel to pray the rosary.” 

“Temperatures are really high in there,” a deflated-looking Gallagher said.

In the closed-door meeting, several GOP members urged Rep. Jim Jordan to drop his bid for the speakership, but he is resisting those calls, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Jordan, who sources say scrapped a third vote today after failing to get enough to win the speakership in his first two ballots, is is now leaning toward backing a resolution to expand interim Speaker Patrick McHenry's powers, sources said, but he wants to see how today's House GOP conference meeting goes. 

As President Joe Biden met with Israel’s wartime cabinet Wednesday in the basement of the David Kempinski hotel in Tel Aviv, an unexpected topic came up: the chaos unfolding simultaneously on Capitol Hill.

For days, House Republicans have struggled to elect a speaker and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s prospects for winning the gavel weren’t looking any brighter as Biden sat down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

As Biden and the Israeli cabinet discussed what role the US could play in helping its longtime ally, Biden acknowledged the chaos in Washington and the roadblock it created, two sources familiar with his remarks told CNN. Biden said he was prepared to ask Congress for an estimated $100 billion in emergency funds for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and the US-Mexico border (with an expected $10 billion going to Israel, though a source cautioned that the number had not yet been finalized). 

But Biden assured senior Israeli officials that the House speakership crisis wouldn’t ultimately hurt US support for their war-torn nation.

Later, on the flight home, Biden joked that he had little sympathy — actually, none — for Jordan’s inability so far to secure the role of House speaker.  

Asked by CNN’s Kevin Liptak about the gridlock, the president touched his heart and deadpanned: “I ache for him.” 

“You do?” Liptak asked.

“No,” Biden said. “No, he – zero. None.”

You can follow CNN's live coverage of Israel's war with Hamas here.