Another Hat In The Ring For House Speaker

When House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced his resignation, the pieces appeared to be in place for a relatively smooth transition. Meanwhile, Chaffetz can certainly get more pugilistic by passing standalone bills for the GOP agenda and demand that the Senate force Obama to veto those. “The anger and the frustration in our membership runs a lot deeper than you folks realize”. “Kevin McCarthy is too intertwined in current GOP leadership to bring about real reforms”.

Boehner said he will continue to work “on behalf of the American people”.

Conservatives say McCarthy, who voted with a minority of Republicans last week to avert a government shutdown, will have to chart a course forward while defending his record in leadership.

But U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, who chairs the House oversight committee, has mounted a challenge from the right. But during his tenure, hard-liners have felt isolated, ignored, maligned. They want more of their amendments offered up on the floor. “We shouldn’t expect every bill to be pre-baked”. “And I’m glad that we have three candidates and it’s a competitive race for speaker”.

“If we don’t inject new blood into the leadership team, our constituents are going to be irate at best”, Chaffetz told reporters on Capitol Hill.

“This extreme attitude of ‘if you don’t do it my way, then I will take my ball and go home, ‘ shows a disregard for an effective and accountable government representing all citizens”.

“The marginalizing of conservatives that has happened over the past nine months is just not going to be tolerated anymore”, said Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md. That discontent simmered over the August recess, but before it boiled over, Boehner chose to jump from the cauldron.

The Republican congressman even insisted the base map “makes the seat uncompetitive for anyone in my party” and was built to “eliminate an incumbent”.

In the meantime, McCarthy and Chaffetz are also rounding up votes before the speakership vote. McCarthy will face two intra-party rivals this week – Reps. “An affirmative vote for this plan…is a specific intent to disfavor me as an incumbent”.

The speaker candidates are heeding these complaints. “That a promotion of Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to speaker is being seriously discussed by leadership allies demonstrates how little they have learned from recent events”, Amash wrote.

Following this path would have been hard, and, given the structural realities of America’s political system, would likely have resulted in few if any additional serious legislative victories.

Daniel Webster, a Florida Republican, is also running for the position and is considered a long shot. Let the will of the body speak.

In an effort to help McCarthy secure enough backing to end the infighting, former Vice President Dick Cheney issued an endorsement Wednesday night in which he called McCarthy “a good man and a strong leader”.

The vote for Boehner’s replacement as speaker looks unlikely to move.

Democrats viewed that as an admission of what they perceived all along. “And partly, it was listening to the 25 – we have 25 members on my committee”. He doesn’t have much patience for hard-liners’ clamoring for “regular order” in parliamentary procedure.

Trying to make the case for conservatives to back him, Webster released a Web video on Monday. The difference here is that it’s a minority within the controlling party that is upset.