Today marks the House going a full week without an elected speaker.

House Republicans will try this week to decide who among them should claim the speaker’s gavel, but at this point neither Majority Leader Steve Scalise nor Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is anywhere close to having the votes needed to claim the speakership on the floor.

Israel ups the urgency: The deadly attacks on Israel over the weekend have ratcheted up the urgency within the GOP conference to install a speaker, and many would like to move swiftly on an aid package to America’s strongest Middle East ally. But while members feel the increased pressure over the House’s limbo, so far it has not functionally moved the House closer to electing a speaker.

Spirited exchange of ideas: House Republicans (those who were in town, at least) met last night to vent about the position they are in and to heap blame on the eight House Republicans who voted to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Candidate forum: On Tuesday night, House Republicans head to a perfect place to turn down the temperature on a heated battle within the party: 1100 Longworth, considered by many the chilliest room on Capitol Hill. That’s where Scalise and Jordan will speak at a GOP Conference candidate forum at 5 p.m.

Two major rules change battles are also brewing among House Republicans: whether to change the rules that allowed for McCarthy’s ouster and whether to raise the threshold of GOP support to elect the next speaker so that any winner can also land 217 votes on the floor.

On Wednesday morning, House Republicans are tentatively scheduled to vote behind closed doors on the conference’s nominee for speaker.

Republicans are motivated to determine their candidate in private and lock in the 217 votes needed to bring one man across the finish line before heading to the floor. They don’t want a repeat of the bruising, multi-day, multi-round floor fight from January, which many say would project weakness.

McCarthy-mentum? McCarthy said Monday that if he can gain support from enough of the small cohort that voted to boot him last week he would be willing to retake the gavel. But at this point that’s looking like a long shot.

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