Steve Scalise withdraws from U.S. House speaker race

Steve Scalise, who had secured the Republican Party's nomination to be the next Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives announced his withdrawal from the race on Thursday.
Steve Scalise narrowly won a secret internal Republican ballot to replace ousted speaker Kevin McCarthy. He couldn't get the 217 lawmakers needed in a vote of the full House as his opponents in his own party lined up to announce they would not support him.
The leaderless House has been unable to pass any bills or approve. Meanwhile, lawmakers are staring down a looming government shutdown as they have only a month to agree on 2024 federal spending levels before the money runs out and have made no progress during the leadership crisis.