Paul Kirby reports in the Daily Freeman that after voting unsuccessfully twice for Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House, Rep. Marc Molinaro now says he supports an alternative solution. Molinaro, who now lives in Catskill, voted for Jordan, who continues to say that the 2020 presidential election was somehow stolen without presenting any evidence. Now, Molinaro has had enough, saying, “We have been without a Speaker for nearly two weeks, putting on hold priorities like fighting inflation and securing the border.... At the same time we have witnessed savage attacks against our ally Israel which threatens to destabilize the region. We have to get back to governing.” Now Molinaro is wants interim Speaker Pro-tempore Rep. Patrick McHenry to have more powers to reopen the House and conduct business until January. Molinaro said, “As we work within the Republican Conference to elect a permanent Speaker, I support empowering Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry on an interim basis.... Time is a luxury we do not have and this will allow us to get back to governing.” It took Republicans 15 ballots to elect Kevin McCarthy as speaker in January, while Steve Scalise has already taken his name out of consideration and Jordan has lost two votes. On a third vote Oct. 20, Molinaro did not back Jordan, and did not vote for McHenry either. Instead he voted for Lee Zeldin, who does not hold any office now and lost as the Republican nominee for governor last year. Jordan failed again to win enough votes again on that third try. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.