Conservatives want Paul Ryan to shake up the House

When Freedom Caucus members indicated they were reluctant to support House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s bid to replace Boehner, McCarthy withdrew his name from consideration this week.

That same rule would force Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) to resign from his spot in the Republican leadership if he decides to run for Speaker of the House.

The race for speaker of the Republican-dominated House was upended when front-runner McCarthy dropped out, saying he could not get enough support to win.

“I did everything except carry his gym bag this morning trying to get him to do it”, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said.

Besides Conaway, U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Bryan, the chairman of the powerful Republican Study Committee, is reportedly exploring a run.

Even if Ryan or another figure can temporarily unite the caucus, the conservatives’ demands inevitably will lead to chaos.

Returning to the condition-for-support outlined by Jim Jordan and the House Freedom Caucus, the New York Times pointed out on Saturday that rather than just targeting individual candidates for the Speakership, GOP hardliners are much more interested in weakening the position itself.

It’s still uncertain whether Ryan could get the necessary votes to be elected speaker.

“Being home this weekend for Paul Ryan is probably the decision making moment”, said University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Professor Mordecai Lee. “Because you think I would do the job great, and not because I’ve made a few promise”. “What are we going to do in the House to change the culture?”

“We’re looking for more of a process and principles than we are a person, but Paul certainly has a lot of respect across the Republicans in the House. He’s a reasonable guy”, Smith said Friday at a conference in response to a question about Ryan becoming Speaker. “Or are we going to fundamentally transform the way we do business here in Washington, D.C?” The irony being that he became speaker when Republicans took over the House with the Tea Party wave in 2010.

Mulvaney insisted that many moderates agree with him on the kind of speaker they want to see in control, and that even moderates don’t want to be “a rubber stamp for somebody else’s idea”.

Flores said Republicans need someone at the top who “hasn’t been in leadership” before. “Changing that is foremost on our minds, and that’s what we’re focused on”.

Several Republicans were quick to warn that despite Ryan’s popularity, he too could fall victim to the ferocious crosscurrents that felled Boehner and blocked McCarthy’s ascent.

A video is circulating around Congress of the floor speech that Ryan gave supporting creation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the emergency scheme that used public funds to shore up banks during the 2008 financial crisis and that is a bugaboo for many conservatives.