GOP Rep Van Orden heads to Israel amid Speaker uncertainty

Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden (Wisc.) is visiting Israel amid the uncertainty over who will be the next Speaker. 

Van Orden’s departure makes the math for Rep. Jim Jordan’s Speakership bid a bit more difficult, though the Ohio Republican has so far been well below the threshold needed to win a floor vote for Speaker. 

Van Orden’s office confirmed that he’s in Israel, but it wasn’t immediately clear on how long he plans to stay there. He arrived in Israel on Friday morning and planned to visit medical facilities, citizens, and both government and military officials, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The first Speaker vote began around 11 a.m. ET on Friday, again resulting in Jordan falling well short of the necessary support, with little clarity on the GOP plans to proceed from there. 

In an opinion article on his trip, Van Orden, who was a longtime Navy seal, pointed to his military service as an inspiration.

“After retiring from the military in 2014, I made a solemn promise to the Jewish people that if anything like what took place on October 7, 2023 were to ever happen, that I would help them and their nation to the best of my ability,” he wrote. “I am keeping that promise.”

Van Orden blasted Biden administration officials last week during a closed briefing on the Israel-Hamas war. He denied cursing, as at least one of his colleagues claimed, but did acknowledge he was frustrated.

“We now have Americans held hostage by terrorists in the Middle East,” Van Orden said Thursday, defending his outburst. “At least 25 Americans have been murdered by savages. They’re killing Jews at a level that they haven’t done since the Holocaust. And the Biden administration is not acting.”

Biden has since visited Israel to reaffirm U.S. support after the Hamas militant group inflicted a massacre on Israeli communities near the border with the Gaza Strip. He also warned Israeli leaders not to let “rage” guide its military response, citing America’s “mistakes” after 9/11.

The president also made the case for supporting Israel, along with Ukraine in its war against Russia, in a prime-time address from the Oval Office on Thursday night. On Friday, the White House released details of funding request for about $100 billion that will include $14 billion to boost Israel’s defense.

Van Orden made headlines a few weeks ago by berating Capitol Hill pages who were lying on the floor of the Capitol Rotunda. 

According to a transcript written by a page minutes after the incident and obtained by The Hill, Van Orden called the pages “jackasses” and “pieces of s‑‑‑,” and told them he didn’t “give a f‑‑‑ who you are.”

A former Navy SEAL who was outside of the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Van Orden won election to Congress in 2022, flipping a seat that had been in Democratic hands for more than 25 years.

Updated: 1:37 p.m.