“It’s not helpful for one group of members to say they will only vote for this candidate on the floor”, Boehner said, in apparent reference to the conservative Freedom Caucus, which has about 40 members and is aligned with the small-government Tea Party movement.
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“We should be fighting the Democrats – not the Republicans”, he said.
“It doesn’t happen all too often, usually these go pretty routine”, Wanless said. “He is the most prestigious member of the House on the Republican side, he has the best future, he’s still very young”.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) withdrew from the race for the House speakership Thursday suddenly and unexpectedly. “If you were to say to me 218 have called you up and given you their pledge, obviously no citizen could ever turn down that kind of challenge”, he told Sean Hannity. Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck said on Friday that Ryan had repeatedly said he is not seeking the speaker’s job.
Normally replacing a powerful position like Speaker of the House is pretty routine, because parties usually have their candidates lined up. “I have a few reservations about Paul, particularly with respect to amnesty for illegal aliens”, Brooks said, referencing Ryan’s support for legislation that would have provided a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. “Because it’s not about the who, it’s the what”, he said.
The next speaker of the House, Jordan said, should be ready to fight more than Republicans have in the past.
“He’d be an unbelievable speaker”, McCarthy declared to a bank of TV cameras after Republicans met behind closed doors to discuss their predicament.
Westmoreland was House Republican Leader in the Georgia Senate Legislature back in 2001 during a very tumultuous time, when many Georgia politicians were switching parties.
“I actually feel pretty good about this race because I’ve got confidence in Wisconsinites valuing people of integrity”, Johnson said. She also mentioned Westmoreland and Tom Graves of Ranger as potential speaker candidates who could represent the Peach State – and the county – well. That stance softened considerably on Friday following the heavy lobbying by his GOP colleagues to reconsider, something Ryan is now taking the weekend to do, and virtually everyone else is the party is now trying to ensure.
Ryan will have a week-long recess to think that question over.
Ryan and more than a dozen other key Republicans sent a letter to House leaders yesterday urging them not to make any snap decisions in the wake of McCarthy’s departure. “What are we going to do in the House to change the culture, what are we going to do so we can get [the conference] together on the same page?”
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But Mulvaney told Face the Nation the House has not been plunged into “chaos” by the uncertainty over the next speaker.
