Eric Burlison backing Kevin McCarthy — for now — in chaotic Speaker of the House election

Southwest Missouri currently doesn't have a congressman.

Not a sworn-in congressman, anyway. And the region isn't alone — in fact, due to procedural drama currently playing out on Capitol Hill this week, nobody in the United States currently has a representative with full congressional authority and powers. A multi-day, sharply contested Republican race for the Speaker of the House has held up any and all business for the chamber — including swearing members into office.

U.S. Rep.-elect Eric Burlison, who was elected to represent Missouri's 7th District, told the News-Leader between votes Thursday that Kevin McCarthy, who has previously served as minority leader of the party, still had his support. But if McCarthy walked away from negotiations with more conservative Republican members or began to seek a deal with Democrats to be elected, Burlison would place his support elsewhere.

"I was really pleased and enthusiastic about negotiations to reduce power from the Speaker and give it back to individual members," Burlison said. "And I am encouraged by a lot of the proposed rule changes ... as long as Kevin McCarthy is moving in that direction, I'm willing to give him the latitude to support him.

"And I've told (McCarthy) that if I feel like he's stalling in that direction, or not moving in that direction, then there comes a point where I can no longer support him. But at this point, he has my support."

Live updates:McCarthy appears to lose seventh vote as fight for House speaker job drags into day three

As of Thursday, 20 House Republicans — many of them members of the further-right Freedom Caucus — have continued to withhold support from McCarthy, preventing him from reaching a majority of votes in the chamber to clinch the position. Burlison said he "agrees with their effort and with the outcome they're trying to get," but declined to join because he was still getting acquainted with Congress and Washington.

"I'm drinking from a firehose, learning where the bathrooms are at the moment," he said. "I didn't want to be the one to jump into the front lines on the first day."

The congressman-elect is no stranger to discord among legislative factions — while serving in the Missouri Senate, he was a part of the Conservative Caucus, a group of right-wing Republicans who advocated strongly for certain social issues. Though Burlison himself was among the less publicly vocal members, the group frequently fought with Republican leadership and at times held up action in the state Senate.

October:Eric Burlison meets with GOP leadership as Democrat mounts long-shot bid in Missouri 7th District race

Billy Long, now out of office, frustrated by 'Bizaroland' in D.C.

Former U.S. Rep. Billy Long, whose term ended this week after he vacated his seat to run for U.S. Senate last year, is none too pleased with the current situation — particularly when it comes to everyday activities for constituents that House offices often assist with.

"This brings up a ton of legitimate questions," Long wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening. "Who can legally help any and all of our citizens with issues we normally handle everyday? Passports, IRS, veteran's issues, SBA, post office, immigration issues, Corps of Engineers, etc. who's getting paid? Outgoing or incoming?"

Long, who was a reliably active user of Twitter while in office, changed his account description to make light of the confusion.

"MO-7 Congressman 1/3/11 - ??? Am I still a Congressman until (U.S. Rep.-elect Eric Burlison) is sworn in or not?" Long's account said on Wednesday. "Who's minding the store? Welcome to Bizaroland."

As of Thursday morning, it's been updated to say that "House Ethics did get back to me and I became a private citizen at 12 p.m. EST (Thursday)."

Galen Bacharier covers Missouri politics & government for the News-Leader. Contact him at gbacharier@news-leader.com, (573) 219-7440 or on Twitter @galenbacharier.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Southwest MO's Eric Burlison still backing McCarthy in Speaker race