Jim Jordan says he is pressing ahead with his bid to become Speaker of the US House of Representatives despite stiff opposition from Republicans.
Another vote for Speaker has been scheduled for 10:00 EST (14:00 GMT).
“The fastest way to get to work for the American people is to elect a speaker,” the Ohio congressman said on Friday.
Mr Jordan had indicated he would back a plan allowing acting Speaker to run the House, but Republicans rejected the move.
The lower chamber of Congress has had no leader for the past 16 days.
Without a Speaker in place, the House is unable to pass bills or approve an impending White House request for aid to Israel and Ukraine.
During a news conference on Friday, Mr Jordan argued that aid to Israel was one of the main reasons why the House needed to elect a speaker quickly.
“I’ve got 200 votes. I know we can do this,” he said, adding that he could “pick up” a few of the votes he lost.
He noted the House has held multiple rounds of voting before – for former Speaker – and said the plan was to have a new Speaker as soon as possible.
But, in consecutive roll calls over the past two days, Mr Jordan has failed to get more than 200 votes. He needs 217 – a majority in the chamber – to win the gavel.
The House Judiciary Committee chairman has faced criticism over intimidation tactics and even death threats against lawmakers from some of his backers.
Ken Buck of Colorado, who firmly rejects Mr Jordan’s nomination, predicted to the BBC’s US partner CBS News that Republican defections could grow from the current 22 to 30 or 40.
On Thursday, Mr Jordan had told colleagues he would not hold any more votes for now and would instead back a proposal for Mr McHenry to conduct the House’s business for a month or more.
Mr McHenry, a bow-tied lawmaker from North Carolina, was appointed interim Speaker following the unprecedented vote to oust Kevin McCarthy earlier this month.
He has taken the view that he has only limited authority to preside over floor votes and the selection of a permanent Speaker, in line with succession procedures put in place after the 9/11 terror attacks.
But legal experts argue that, as long as a majority of the chamber is in favour of expanding his authority, the House can function largely as normal.
Members of both parties, including two former Republican Speakers, have floated the option of extending Mr McHenry’s powers until January to allow him to preside over urgent legislative matters.
That could potentially enable Mr McHenry to be the person that shepherds through legislation to avert a government shutdown next month, and aid packages for Israel and Ukraine.
Republicans who support the idea have said the House must move on with its business rather than prolong its internal divisions.
“We have to get the conservative agenda back on track,” said Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, who has so far declined to back Mr Jordan.
Nebraska’s Don Bacon, another anti-Jordan defector, said: “McHenry has 100% of my support. I love McHenry.”
But several more Republicans erupted over the proposal, with tempers flaring at a lengthy closed-door conference.
Matt Gaetz, the Florida congressman who led the coup to remove Mr McCarthy, slammed the idea to empower Mr McHenry as a “constitutional desecration”.
“We need to stay here until we elect a Speaker and, if someone can’t get the votes, we need to go on to the next person.”
Mr Gaetz also said that Mr McCarthy had screamed at him and another colleague had lunged at him in a meeting earlier on Thursday that felt “like a Thanksgiving dinner”.
“I think the entire conference screamed at him,” Mr McCarthy, a California Republican, told reporters when asked about the confrontation.
Jim Banks, a conservative Indiana lawmaker, predicted half the party would vote against the measure and said it was a betrayal of Republican voters.
Others, including New York Republican Elise Stefanik, said electing Mr McHenry amid internal opposition would “create a Democrat backed coalition government”.
“We must work to unify Republicans” behind Mr Jordan, the congresswoman wrote on X.
On Thursday, Democrats did not say whether they would back Mr McHenry as Speaker.
But some indicated they were open to the idea, with California’s Lou Correa telling the BBC: “We’ve been without a Speaker for a number of days.”
“I’m hearing the rumour is to give him [McHenry] power until January – I’ll take it,” he added.
But multiple Republicans emerged from their party conference declaring the option “dead”.
With Mr Jordan now pursuing a third Speaker vote, Democrats will probably once again vote unanimously for their own leader, Hakeem Jeffries, as they have done in previous votes.
With no alternatives to Mr Jordan or Mr Jeffries emerging this week, there is no end in sight to the House’s leadership crisis.
