All eyes on Ryan amid search for US House speaker

House Republicans gathered early Friday for a private meeting to regroup from the political chaos after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) backed out of the speaker’s race and the GOP majority found itself without an obvious leader.

Everyone from Boehner himself to 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, with whom Ryan ran as his vice-presidential pick, is reportedly urging Ryan to step up.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, who wants Ryan to run, said after speaking to Ryan as Ryan was preparing to catch a plane home: “He needs to talk with his family first”. In addition, any presidential aspirations the 45-year-old Wisconsin lawmaker might have could be undercut by holding the chamber’s top job and managing its unruly caucus. Lawmakers also must decide whether to raise the debt limit next month to allow the government to continue to borrow money.

Later, spokesman Brendan Buck issued a statement saying: “Chairman Ryan appreciates the support he’s getting from his colleagues but is still not running for speaker”.

The GOP-run Congress is hurtling toward showdowns with President Barack Obama over spending and borrowing.

“They think we should be more compromising”, said DesJarlais, noting that he must represent expectations from his constituents in Tennessee, which includes Rutherford County. “I don’t know anybody who is more concerned about this country or more concerned about Wisconsin…so my guess would be, if he’s seeing that there’s no other consensus candidates coming forward, my guess is just out of sheer patriotism, out of sense of duty, that would be the thing that would cause Paul to do that”.

“The fact is, he’s a good guy, but whatever he was as a freshman, when he was a fighter on our committee, when he was trying to hold government accountable, he took a break from that”, Issa said.

Boustany had also joined the other five Louisiana House Republicans in backing Scalise’s run for majority leader.

McCarthy’s departure left Webster and Oversight committee chairman Jason Chaffetz of Utah in the race.

And after making it clear he wasn’t interested in running, Ryan has said, at the very least, he will consider it this weekend. Boehner had planned to leave Congress on October 30 but said he would stay until a replacement is elected. But that post is no longer open after McCarthy’s sudden and unexpected departure from the speaker’s race. “If we don’t change the political dynamic, the next speaker will suffer the fate that John Boehner did”.

A North Carolina congresswoman thanked fellow Republicans for their support Friday after many received incendiary emails alleging an affair between her and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, according to two Republicans in the closed-door meeting. He later posted a video of the television appearance on his Twitter account and said he is considering a bid to become speaker. “And I hope we will have a candidate who can lift up our party”.

What it should tell you is that McCarthy obviously is a Washington insider, and his fall from grace as future Speaker obviously is bad news to the insiders or the establishment in Washington, both parties.