Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, plans to file a motion Wednesday to elect Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., as the permanent temporary House speaker, empowering him to handle crucial business while lawmakers try to pick a new leader.

"After two weeks without a Speaker of the House and no clear candidate with 217 votes in the Republican conference, it is time to look at other viable options,” Joyce said in a statement to Spectrum News. “By empowering Patrick McHenry as Speaker Pro Tempore we can take care of our ally Israel until a new Speaker is elected.”

The plan was first reported by Punchbowl News.

A source familiar with the plan told Spectrum News that Joyce will likely file the motion if Jordan falls short again in a second vote Wednesday. 

Twenty House Republicans rejected Jordan’s nomination Tuesday. If all members vote and Democrats remain united behind Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., as they were Tuesday, Jordan, a founding member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, cannot afford to lose more than four members of his own party. 

McHenry, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, became the speaker pro tempore after Speaker Kevin McCarthy was voted out of his position earlier this month. McCarthy had previously chosen McHenry to lead the chamber in the event the speaker’s seat was left vacant.

Axios reported earlier this week that Democrats are seriously entertaining the idea of voting to expand McHenry’s now-limited powers to pass critical legislation. Congress faces a Nov. 17 deadline to approve a spending package and avoid a government shutdown. The House, which is paralyzed without a speaker, also has been unable to respond to the war between Israel and Hamas.

But a source familiar with McHenry's thinking told Spectrum News that he is not interested in the role and is not involved in the talks. Rather, the source said, McHenry is focused on getting Jordan elected speaker.

Fellow North Carolina Rep. Greg Murphy told Spectrum News on Tuesday that he "has spoken with Patrick several times about this" and gauged his interest in the role. McHenry's reply, Murphy recounted, was "'Do you hate me that much?'"

Murphy separately told The Hill that McHenry has conveyed to him that he does not want to become the House’s permanent leader.

A moderate Republican, Joyce is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and a key leader in negotiating government funding. He voted for Jordan on Wednesday but not until the very end.

When asked about it on Wednesday, Jordan, for his part, shot down the idea of empowering McHenry, arguing that he received a significant amount of GOP support in Tuesday's vote and will keep trying to win the speaker's gavel.

"The choice is we elect a Republican speaker, get back to work for the American people, or some kind of coalition government, conference," Jordan told reporters. "I think the American people prefer that the party who has the majority elect the speaker, we got 90% of the vote."  

Besides, he noted, "Patrick has said he doesn’t want the job."

Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur told Spectrum News that she has an "open mind" about her fellow Ohio lawmaker's proposal.

“I have an open mind and hold great respect for David Joyce as a human being and man of the law," she said. "The clear evidence of extremism and sedition remain dangerous threats to our Republic. The House must act in the national interest. Rule by an extremist minority is unAmerican."

Joyce is not the first House Republican to make such a proposal. On Monday night, Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania announced he introduced a resolution to hold a vote to expand McHenry’s powers until Nov. 17 or until a new speaker is elected, whichever comes first.

New York Rep. Nick LaLolta on Wednesday separately told CNN that it's time to move ahead with an empowered temporary speaker.