It was not clear whether an October. 29 vote for speaker in the full House would still take place.
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A wide swath of Republicans are urging Ryan to run to replace outgoing House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) after his heir apparent stunned Washington on Thursday by ending his own bid for the job. Clearly, their actions must be respected. At the same time, I agree with the vast majority of members, I think. The people not in it are conservatives, but Republicans, moderate level Republicans, liberal Republicans, communist Republicans, and all Democrats are in the establishment.
During a closed-door meeting with Texas Republicans last week when he was still a candidate for speaker, McCarthy was confronted “point blank” with a question about whether he carried on an affair with a fellow member of Congress, Rep. Mike McCaul told CNN. Paul Ryan apparently doesn’t want the job, for numerous same reasons.
The battle over who will become the next Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives is “probably the most important thing happening in politics today”.
After McCarthy revealed his decision to his colleagues – standing beside his wife, Judy – the five-term lawmaker told reporters, “If we are going to be strong, we’ve got to be 100 percent united”. I feel good about the decision. “I know various members of the conference and chairman – they want him to get in and be made speaker by acclamation”. Her numbers are dropping. Why? Cruz asked. “The best example we’ve seen is in 1980”.
Kevin McCarthy’s surprise dropout for the Speaker of the House position has left the Republican Party’s leadership reeling and Rachel Maddow positively giddy.
The two lawmakers who had challenged McCarthy for the post, Representatives Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Daniel Webster of Florida, said they were still in the race.
Ryan had been a resolute no for the job, citing the toll it would take on his family – he has three young children – even as it would put him right behind the vice president in the order of presidential succession. If not resolved, those face-offs could result in a partial government shutdown or an unprecedented federal default – two scenarios that a few Republican leaders believe would severely wound Republican prospects in next year’s presidential and congressional elections.
“It is my view, however, that prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable damage to the institution”.
How this will evolve over the next couple of days is uncertain, but I will predict that if a consensus candidate does not emerge by Monday, John Boehner will still be speaker in January 2017.
But his backing among the current House leadership could be a drag on his candidacy, as the conservative backlash against Boehner’s team shows no sign of abating.
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Rep. Darrell Issa of California said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he could “potentially” be a candidate but that he would back Ryan. Under our system, that’s how government is supposd to work.
