(WSIL) -- U.S. Rep. Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro) should be starting his fifth term as congressman for Illinois' 12th District.
Instead, Bost voted six times the past two days to elect a house speaker that hasn't been chosen as of Wednesday night. The House resumes voting at 7 p.m.
Once a speaker is in, work can begin. Until that happens, Bost is currently Congressman-elect.
On Wednesday California Republican Kevin McCarthy, who's vying to become speaker, fell short on three more ballots before the House adjourned until later in the evening.
John Shaw, director of SIU's Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, says the bickering within the Republican Party sets a bad tone for the rest of the year. Shaw says it could get difficult to pass legislation or raise the debt ceiling.
"If you have a speaker who's so weak that he cannot get enough votes to adjourn the House it's hard to imagine how he's going to be ablle to pass a debt ceiling," Shaw said.
Shaw adds that it's not a fight over government or policy but moreso a personality battle.
Bost says the House Veterans Committee, a group he was ranking member of during the last Congress, still has further work on the PACT Act and the VA Mission Act.
But work on those bills can't continue until there's a speaker elected. At least 20 Republican members have withheld support for McCarthy as of Wednesday afternoon.
"20 don't rule all this place. 20 are part of this. They're stirring this," Bost said. "My hope is that they find some kind of agreement."
"They have no plan, they only have demands."