WASHINGTON: The Republican nominee to lead the US House of Representatives dropped out Thursday (Friday in Manila) after failing to find enough support to win a vote of the full chamber, plunging the paralyzed lower chamber of Congress deeper into crisis.

Steve Scalise narrowly won a secret internal Republican ballot Wednesday to replace ousted speaker Kevin McCarthy, but it quickly became clear that he couldn't get the 217 lawmakers needed in a vote of the full House as his opponents in his own party lined up to announce they would not support him.