Darrell Issa Confirms He’s Considering Bid for Speaker — But Names Someone

Rep. Darrell Issa said Friday that he’s “considering” running for House speaker.

He said the Republican majority in the House needs to choose a leader who is experienced and previously served as a committee chairman.

Shapiro breaks his reasoning down into several factors, but ultimately he thinks that Issa has the bona fides to appease the whole spectrum of the Republican caucus and keep the House functioning while still appealing to the hard-liners in his party.

“We have been dealing with real problems of leadership telling us to do something because it was popular rather than doing what the American people asked us to do when they swept us back into the majority after we’d lost it for good cause”.

Issa called Chaffetz a “good man, an honorable man”, who got the chairmanship “by going to Boehner and saying he would shut down that rancor that was going on. The difference is, there is a resounding amount of support in the conference for Paul Ryan to agree to be the speaker, and I’m part of that team that’s trying to get him to be a speaker”, Issa told reporters in the Capitol on Friday. He said he would take on the tough fights.

“Let’s understand something, I would not have the hubris to determine whether I’m the 240 candidate or Paul Ryan”, said Issa.

When discussing the congressmen who are still in the race for Speaker, Issa was less than favorable. “I guarantee you skilled immigration reform will get through to Obama’s desk”.