SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The US House of Representatives is still without a Speaker of the House Wednesday night.

Jim Jordan failed for a second time to get the votes, actually losing momentum with even more republican holdouts. 

There’s talk of giving the temporary speaker Patrick McHenry (R) increased powers in the meantime. 

The lower chamber has been without a speaker for more than two weeks, ever since Kevin McCarthy (R) was voted out of the role. 

Representatives from Southwest Missouri Congressmen Eric Burlison (R) and Mark Alford (R) are both in support of Jim Jordan and said they are frustrated by the results of Wednesday’s vote.

“We have another day without a speaker of the house,” Representative Alford (R) said. “A ship without a rudder. Our world is on fire. We need a speaker.”  

Alford (R) Representative for the 4^th District of Missouri said voting for a new speaker of the house is slowing down progress.  

“Now we don’t have a speaker. we have a speaker pro-tem,” Alford (R) said. “We need a speaker so that we can get things done, provide aid to Israel, secure our border and pass the eight remaining appropriation bills to fund our government.”  

Jordan is the Republican Party’s designate for the new speaker of the house. Jordan received 199 votes Wednesday which is 18 short of the 217 he needs. 

22 members of the republican party opposed Jordan Wednesday compared to 20 who opposed him Tuesday. 

Burlison (R), who represents the southwest corner of Missouri, including Greene County said he is with Jordan for the long haul. 

“I support Jim Jordan. I’ll support him all the way. I’m overwhelmingly getting phone calls from the district that are in favor of Jim Jordan,” Burlison (R) said. “Why? because he is an honest person. He is here for the right reasons.”  

Burlison (R) and Alford (R) said it could be a while before someone reaches 217 votes. 

“It took 15 votes to get Kevin McCarthy elected speaker of the house,” Alford (R) said. “I don’t know if it’s going to take 15. I don’t know how much longer Jim Jordan is going to try to pursue this.”  

“I hope it’s shorter, but I think Jim Jordan, I’ve asked him to go 50 rounds.” Burlison (R) said. “I’d go 50 rounds or more for Jim Jordan. He is an individual that is a very rare person in Washington, D.C.”