“But I think that the people that are here illegally we need to deal with in a compassionate way”. These are all unresolved.
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But since joining the House leadership in 2009, Pavich said McCarthy’s had to compromise. “Right now our intention is to stick together all the way to the floor”. So, I just came from there. The FC wants seats on the Steering Committee, which determines the make-up of other House committees, to make sure that conservatives have a few influence over the workings of the House. Freedom Caucus members are looking for proof whoever gets the speakership next will operate the House differently than Boehner.
On Wednesday the Freedom Caucus, a loosely affiliated group of about 40 of the House’s most conservative members announced it was throwing its support behind Rep. Daniel Webster, a Florida sophomore considered a longshot challenger to McCarthy. This is important for a couple of reasons.
Last week, Representative McCarthy committed a major blunder during an appearance on Fox News by implying that the Benghazi committee was politically motivated.
Gowdy told the Post that he has spoken to a few of the Democrats who voted to form the Benghazi committee “because what Kevin said put them in an incredibly bad position”. “I can’t unlock the mysteries of that”, McCarthy said.
Cramer said he was happy with Boehners’ leadership and believes McCarthy will take the same approach. “Our interest in her is because she was secretary of state at the time“. He rose to semi-prominence in the house following an attempted coup against John Boehner in January 2015, which saw him draw the second-highest number of votes. When the Atlantic asked GOP Rep. and Freedom Caucus member Mick Mulvaney if they’d commit to support McCarthy, Mulvaney told them it depends. “I’m not anxious about that happening”. It’s going to cause some chaos internally, and nobody is arguing with the premise that Mr. McCarthy might be more than a few votes shy of the 218 necessary. I get it. It’s gross. It’s possible that another candidate or candidates could emerge before House Republicans gather to choose their new majority leader.
That aide is confident at this time that the conservatives have the votes to prevent McCarthy from winning the nomination of the conference for the October 29 floor vote for Speaker. For that he needs just 124 votes. And because of conservatives supporting either Chaffetz or Congressman Webster, no one might have enough votes right now.
HARI SREENIVASAN: OK, so what happens?
“I am confident we will have a new speaker on that day”, Boehner told reporters.
LISA DESJARDINS: That’s what happens when you’re in Neverland. In the past, in the history, there have been many long speaker’s elections. We are interested in who has the best plan to empower members. They will reserve judgment until they hear from the victor of Thursday’s ballot.
The Freedom Caucus, formed this year by members sympathetic to the small government Tea Party movement, was instrumental in pressuring Boehner to resign after they fought a series of internal party battles with him, most recently demanding that a government funding bill deny money to women’s health care group Planned Parenthood.
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The flap has raised questions not only about McCarthy’s political ability and instincts, but also his communication skills – key aspects of a party leader’s job.
