The conservative House Freedom Caucus announced Wednesday that it would back Rep. Daniel Webster to be the next speaker, which would provide enough support to the Republican conference to deny the position to establishment favorite Kevin McCarthy, the current majority leader.
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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. Everyone assumed House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy would move up a notch and Boehner would pass the baton.
McCarthy’s stumble and the chaos surrounding the Speaker’s race might be good news for southern states like Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.
McCarthy has retracted the comments and said he regretted them.
“There’s no agreement on how to do this”, Boehner said.
In his letter dated Tuesday to House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Jones said he doesn’t want a new scandal to detract from Republican legislative efforts “with all the voter distrust of Washington felt around the country”.
“The lazy narrative is we want a more conservative speaker”, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said at a meeting of conservatives Wednesday. They repeatedly emphasized that they were looking for a Speaker who would emphasize the process over his or her own political goals. But that vote only requires a majority – and the crucial hurdle for McCarthy will be whether he can get 218 votes on the floor in the House election October 29.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who is also the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, said the caucus has every intention to vote together tomorrow as a bloc.
Boehner angered numerous Freedom Caucus by frequently bringing legislation up at the last minute before a deadline, often with a “pre-baked” deal with Democrats to avoid a crisis or a shutdown.
The problem for Mr. McCarthy is, there are roughly 50 or so, and growing, number of people who just can not or will not vote to promote existing leadership into the speaker’s role.
The ambitious 48-year-old Chaffetz already knows this, as he was himself previously forced to restore under conservatives’ pressure a subcommittee chairmanship taken from a lawmaker, North Carolina Republican Mark Meadows, who challenged Boehner.
Boehner is scheduled to appear on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” on Thursday night, just hours after the closed door meeting.
So we are getting a lot of input from our districts and it’s not pro-anybody but [is] anti-McCarthy.
“I don’t think the next speaker can change the way congress works” said Thurber. Webster won only 12 votes for speaker when he ran against Boehner at the start of this year.
“As speaker of the House, I would commit to serving you by promoting principle over power, by making you successful by telling you the truth and by earning the right to be heard, not demanding it”, Webster said in the video.
“The House leadership team holds great responsibility, and the individuals on the team should be able to serve with the utmost integrity”, Jones wrote.
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Earlier Wednesday, Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Florida, filed an ethics complaint against House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy accusing the No. 2 Republican of using taxpayer dollars to make political attacks against the former secretary of state.
