House conservatives back Ryan, opening door to a new speaker

“That’s the first time I’ve heard Paul Ryan express much of any concerns about how leadership ran this place for four and a half years when he was Budget Chairman and Ways and Means Chairman”.

But the challenge will come the next day, when a full House floor vote poses a less certain outcome if all Republicans do not unite against Democrats.

If enough Freedom Caucus members withhold their support, Ryan might walk away from the race to replace Speaker John Boehner, who is slated to retire on October. 30.

But with chaos ahead and the prospect of even more of it if he passed on the job, Ryan reconsidered under pressure from party leaders. The hard-line conservative House Republicans have used the rule, which requires a simple majority to depose the speaker at any time, as leverage to hold hostage legislation not to their liking.

Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina initiated that procedure – a motion “to vacate the chair” – against Boehner in July.

But he stopped short of endorsing him for speaker.

“No speaker should ever have that hanging over his head”, Collins said.

With Congress having returned to Washington, D.C., from a recess this week, attention in the House is focused on who will be the next speaker.

In their own written statement, the Freedom Caucus praised Ryan as “a policy entrepreneur who has developed conservative reforms dealing with a wide variety of subjects”.

Ryan has said all along he wants to be the “unity” candidate for House speaker. He wants the endorsement of the major caucuses of the House, including the hardline Freedom Caucus. I think he has votes to become speaker; the question is does he have the votes that suit him.

The only Coloradan in the caucus is U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, whose Fourth Congressional District wraps around Colorado Springs on the north, east and south. He spoke with The Gazette’s editorial board Wednesday and said he remained undecided, but open to supporting Ryan. “I think Paul Ryan is the best guy to put 218 votes-plus up on the board”.

“Our conference is in a world of hurt now and it’s going to be in a bigger world of hurt”, he said.

One conservative summed up Ryan’s demands as follows: more authority, less responsibility, and less accountability. “Paul Ryan is a friend, and he is that kind of leader”, Pitts said in a statement.

Ryan has made it clear to the GOP that he doesn’t want to be Speaker, though after enough Republicans in and outside of Congress convinced him he was literally their only hope, he caved. But there was also risk in pushing too hard against a group whose members have shown a willingness to shut down the government or even default on federal debt obligations while standing on their beliefs.

The procedure has become a powerful way for the Freedom Caucus to enforce its agenda, but in Ryan’s view it has also become a destabilizing influence for the Republican Party. Webster has virtually no chance of winning, but said Wednesday that he was still a candidate.

Ryan’s endorsement by two other key groups of House Republicans is considered a formality – the moderate Tuesday Group and the mainstream conservative Republican Study Committee.

But signs of division inside the caucus have been apparent in recent months.

“If Nancy Pelosi said that, it would be all over”, Slaughter said. If Ryan ultimately does not enter the race, it’s unclear who might step up to run for the job – and more importantly, who would be able to muster 218 votes.