One conservative lawmaker personally informed McCarthy over the summer recess that the majority leader would have his support if he ran for the top House position.
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The California Republican said he’d already reached out to every one of the more than 240 House Republicans to sound them out about his candidacy and the direction they think Republicans should go, and his official entry into the race likely signals he has sewed up the support needed to triumph.
“We’re going to stop having these ‘cliffs, ‘” he said.
The conservative House rebels who worked to push Boehner out of office had not yet coalesced around any leadership candidates.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s campaign for speaker veered into damage control mode Wednesday after he suggested that the House Benghazi committee can take credit for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s slumping poll numbers.
“The system is created so you can’t get 100 percent of what you want”, McCarthy said in the Fox interview. Away from the cameras, Francis floored Boehner by asking the speaker to pray for him – “I did”, Boehner said.
“We want to make sure that we’re closer to the people – that they feel this is their government, they’re in charge, and we serve them”, McCarthy said. While the Senate voted 77 to 19 on a bill to continue government funding through mid-December, some conservative Republicans still prefer a shutdown to block federal funding for Planned Parenthood. – So far, the only alternative to Rep. Kevin McCarthy is Rep. Dan Webster (R-FL), who ran an ill-fated campaign for Speaker earlier this year, and received 12 votes.
“I hope now that we will move on and have leadership in both the House and the Senate that will produce results”, Fiorina said on NBC’s “Meet the Press”.
In commenting on Boehner’s resignation, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich noted that, “Part of your party has goals that are not reachable”.
In a speech that focused exclusively on foreign policy, avoiding the potential government shutdown over the funding of Planned Parenthood, McCarthy hit out at the Obama administration’s “weakness”.
But McCarthy still faces potential problems: he is viewed with almost as much suspicion among conservatives as Boehner, and it is unclear whether he would have any more success uniting the fractured Republican caucus than his predecessor.
When asked by a reporter whether he would advance a debt limit bill before resigning from Congress on Oct. 30, Boehner said: “We’ll have to see”. The job will become vacant if the current whip, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, wins his bid to move up to majority leader, the No. 2 job.
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Some of the more establishment-minded Republicans are disgusted with the Freedom Caucus crowd over their role in pushing Boehner out.
