House will elect new speaker before Boehner steps down

During a face-to-face meeting Friday at a New York fundraiser, McCarthy was surprised and angered when Chaffetz told him he would challenge him for the top post. “There is a clear recognition that Kevin McCarthy enjoys the majority of the conference’s support – but that is dwindling, it’s not growing”, Chaffetz told reporters Monday in Washington.

Chaffetz said if he fails to win the nomination, he would not contest the position on the House floor.

Boo-frickin’-hoo. I guess Boehner was out of the loop when the national Republican Party political organs spent millions of dollars promising to end ObamaCare if elected. Love said Monday she intends to have “intense conversations” with all the leadership candidates and will be listening for a plan to “promote a positive, conservative agenda” for the House.

While Boehner gets criticism from all quarters of his party, those Republicans who identify as part of the Tea Party (just over one in five of all Republicans today) are especially negative.

“His management style is much better than Boehner – much more inclusive, much more pro-active, much more involved.”

At noon on Thursday, Republicans will gather behind closed doors and vote by secret ballot for their candidate for the most powerful job in the House, a post that’s second in line to the presidency – Speaker of the House.

For now, the leading Democrat appears to be relishing a Republican caucus in disarray. “With plenty of time to talk about rules changes and then, future leadership races, when and if they become necessary”. He has run for speaker before – challenging Boehner in January. Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Daniel Webster of Florida, also addressed the group.

Chaffetz said he’ll endorse McCarthy if he emerges from the GOP conference election as the frontrunner.

McCarthy’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The fourth-term Utah Republican strongly rejected Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s insistence that the GOP Congress would keep the government open and never default on the country’s debt.

“Harry Reid does'”, said Chaffetz, referring to the Senate Democratic leader. He called for abandoning the Iran nuclear deal; providing lethal aid to Ukraine against Russian Federation; and expanding use of Special Forces and airstrikes against the Islamic State – and a US-enforced no-fly zone over Northern Syria to protect refugees and “rebooted” Syrian rebels who would fight Islamic terrorists and the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Chaffetz’s comments about a few conservatives being unenthusiastic about McCarthy were backed up by others. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy certainly deserved consideration, but failed his first big test. But if he doesn’t have the right stuff, who does?

That approach prevents Congress from getting hard issues worked out, Webster said in an interview Tuesday with the Orlando Sentinel.

McCarthy didn’t make any firm commitments to the groups, but all three candidates said they wanted to see more bills move through committees and to the House floor – remarks which were warmly received by the room.