McCarthy is assuring Republicans he can bring them together, even as emboldened conservatives maneuver to yank their party to the right in the wake of the leader of the U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner’s sudden resignation. I’ve visited your districts and met your families and consitutents.
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Yet in an acknowledgement of the vocal conservative opposition that sprang up against Boehner, McCarthy said he is “also sensitive to what is happening outside of the Beltway”. But he also said that he wants the House Republican majority to be “much closer to the people they represent”.
He is widely expected to win the speakership which will be voted on by the entire House. Fox News reports that the move to put McCarthy in the leadership position is gaining momentum.
McCarthy has been majority leader since 2014, after Virginia’s Eric Cantor lost his Republican primary and resigned the leader post.
Though McCarthy is the favorite to become speaker, arch-conservatives have yet to endorse him, with a few expressing skepticism that he will be sufficiently conservative.
“It’s clear our members believe that we need a plan, not a person, to heal the fractures within our majority”, Roskam said in a statement.
There have been many calls from the grassroots for House Republicans to find someone besides McCarthy to take Boehner’s place because as far as they are concerned, McCarthy is more of the same and not a step in the right direction. And I’m not talking about the House Freedom Caucus radicals this time. “Will they change for the better or will we simply replace Mr Boehner with somebody else who does the same thing?”
Boehner announced he’ll resign from speaker as of October 30, citing turmoil in the caucus in the House. “We’ve got to acknowledge why the problem occurred, and that’s why the American people are frustrated and their members reflect that”. He worked diligently to advance the conservative principles necessary to lead America forward. Republicans are scheduled to meet late Tuesday afternoon to discuss the leadership elections. And Peter Roskam may be considering a run-the Illinois Republican has been leading a small movement of his colleagues to force a “closed meeting” of the conference to determine the party’s future. He’s one of the few standing that’s won two majorities. “I don’t want to leave my successor a dirty barn”, said Rep. John Boehner. That vote is done by secret ballot behind closed doors.
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White House spokesman Josh Earnest said McCarthy had “committed the classic Washington gaffe of saying something that everybody already knows is true”.
