WASHINGTON — The Trump White House withdrew Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination to be US ambassador to the United Nations Thursday, with sources saying the New York Republican’s exit from the House posed an unacceptable “risk” to passing the president’s marquee legislation.
The 218-213 House majority currently affords the GOP the loss of just two votes on any party-line bill, meaning that Stefanik’s expected resignation to take over the UN role could threaten the progress of border, energy and tax legislation slated to land on President Trump’s desk by Memorial Day.
Before the nomination’s withdrawal was announced, a source close to the Trump administration told The Post that “there’s been recent talks between [the] White House and Speaker [Mike Johnson]’s office about if it’s in best interest of House Majority and president’s agenda to pull the nomination.”
The source added, “It’s all about the math.”
A second insider confirmed that the White House was discussing pulling Stefanik’s nomination ahead of Thursday’s announcement.
However, a third source said Stefanik bowing out of the confirmation process would be “absurd.”
“Elise was in leadership. She stepped aside for the nomination. If she were to stay in the House she’d go back to being in the rank-and-file, something she hasn’t done in years,” this person added.
Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) replaced Stefanik as House Republican conference chair in January.
Stefanik, who was one of the first Trump nominees to be vetted, cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by a voice vote Jan. 30 — and had been headed for a full confirmation vote in the upper chamber April 2.
New York Democrats had also been scheming about rejiggering the rules for an upstate special election to fill Stefanik’s potential vacancy in the 21st Congressional District — before Gov. Kathy Hochul put the kibosh on it, sources familiar with the discussion previously told The Post.
That could have left the deep-red district empty of representation until Election Day Nov. 4, but sources noted that the bill rewriting the election rules was “definitely on hold” while Hochul battled Trump over congestion pricing.
Stefanik, 40, was considered on a glide path to confirmation after receiving gushing endorsements from Republicans as well as Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.
She made her mark last Congress by grilling Ivy League presidents over the explosion of antisemitic rhetoric, threats and intimidation on their campuses in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of 1,200 in Israel.
After Stefanik’s nomination was announced, she ripped the UN as a “den of antisemitism” and accused diplomats of “acting as an apologist for Iran and their terrorist proxies” including Hamas.
Unlike other Republican pols tapped for the Trump administration, including former Florida GOP Rep. Mike Waltz, the current national security adviser, Stefanik has yet to resign from her seat.
Special elections will be held next week to replace Waltz and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). In both races, expected Republican wins followed by Stefanik’s departure would push the House majority to 219-213 for the GOP.
Johnson (R-La.) and his threadbare majority had struggled to pass some bills in the previous Congress — and a recent budget resolution barely made it over the finish line due to initial objections from GOP rebels like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.).
Spartz backed down at the last minute and advanced the framework to raise the nation’s budget deficit by $4.5 trillion over the next decade in an effort to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, beef up border security and promote energy line items.
If taken up for a vote in both chambers, the budget resolution can be passed via a process known as reconciliation, which will allow it to be approved by a simple majority, so long as it only involves changes to revenues, spending or the debt limit.
Reps for the White House, Johnson’s office and Stefanik did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
