Boehner finally chose to give up the job last month, after enduring more than four years of protracted battles to complete basic tasks like funding the government, all while his fellow Republicans complained he wasn’t savvy or tough enough to force through the party’s agenda.
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Scalise did not respond to requests for comment.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan: He reiterated Thursday he would not be a candidate.
In a stunning development, Kevin McCarthy has withdrawn his candidacy to be Speaker of the House.
Despite his lead over other candidates, McCarthy had failed to win over a small but crucial bloc in the House GOP: the hardline Freedom Caucus.
Well he said something interesting in the news conference right after his decision about a ½ hour after his announcement, a reporter asked him was the controversy about the Benghazi committee was something that made this happen.
“And I think there had been something said for us to unite, we probably need a fresh face”.
At the White House, presidential spokesman Josh Earnest said it would be easy for Democrats to poke fun at the Republicans’ troubles if not for the serious issues Congress faces. “It’s just premature for Scalise, and he was recently seared by scandal, which, while not disqualifying, does nothing to help”. He was struggling to distance himself from Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke after revelations that he spoke at a 2002 gathering hosted by a white supremacist group. Scalise has said he regrets addressing the group.
McCarthy shocked his colleagues at the start of Thursday’s closed meeting, telling them he was not the right person for the job. “We will announce the date for this election at a later date, and I’m confident we will elect a new Speaker in the coming weeks”. “The longer it goes on, the more that demonstrates no one can gain a consensus and Scalise’s reputation and interpersonal skills could be what’s needed to unite the conference”. It was to have been followed by the vote in the full House where the Freedom Caucus could have blocked McCarthy’s ascent.
“It is total confusion – a banana republic”, King said, according to the Post.
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To get anything done “we [may] have to assemble a bipartisan coalition, that’s the reality of this place”, Dent told CNN moments after McCarthy withdrew from the race. Many conservatives said they would not necessarily stick with Webster and that all options were open as they tried to push forward a leader. “I don’t even want to speculate”, said Harper.
