10-8-2015
Current speaker John Boehner says election is postponed after shock announcement that muddies the future of Republican leadership in the House
Chaos overtook the Republican party on Thursday, as the election for a new House speaker was postponed after current majority whip Kevin McCarthy backed out of the race.
The current House speaker, John Boehner, told the conference that the election was postponed at a meeting that was supposed to see the House Republicans vote for their nominee for speaker.
It is still unclear whether the vote on the House floor for speaker, which had been scheduled for 29 October, will be postponed. No new date has yet been set for the Republican party vote, which would have selected the GOP nominee today.
In a statement, Boehner said: “After Leader McCarthy’s announcement, members of the House Republican Conference will not vote today for a new speaker. As I have said previously, I will serve as speaker until the House votes to elect a new speaker. 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.”
“I think I shocked some of you, huh,” McCarthy said to reporters outside the meeting. He said that he had decided that he had to “put this conference first”. He said he would stay on as majority leader, but that the party needed “a new face” as speaker. “I feel good about the decision,” he said.
The surprise move came just 24 hours after the so-called Freedom Caucus, a group of hardline rightwing Republicans, announced that they were backing Daniel Webster against McCarthy.
“Two minutes ago I was in there listening to what I thought was going to be his nominating speech, only to learn that he’s not running,” said Ryan Costello of California.
“McCarthy backed out, said he was not going to run at this time, then Speaker Boehner got up, said the election was postponed, then the chairwoman banged the gavel and the meeting was over,” Costello said. “And then we all looked around at one another and I don’t think half of us knew what had happened.”
Representative Jason Chaffetz, whose own campaign to be speaker was thought to have run aground before Thursday’s announcement by McCarthy turned the race on its head, told reporters that he was still running – though he hinted it was too early to say whether McCarthy’s exit made him the frontrunner.
Chaffetz said he was “surprised, stunned and shocked” by the announcement.
“[I] didn’t see that coming. Kevin McCarthy is a very good man, and he has always been one that puts his country before everyone else.” He said that he and McCarthy “stand shoulder to shoulder with the same desire, and that is to unite this party”.
“I really do believe it is time for a fresh start,” he continued. “That is the whole genesis of my campaign.” But, he said, the conference “is going to have to do some deep soul-searching”.
Darrell Issa, an influential California Republican congressman and chair of the House oversight committee, said “I think it’s obvious that all members of the conference were shocked” by McCarthy’s sudden withdrawal. “Kevin McCarthy had the vast majority of the conference’s confidence and votes,” Issa said, “but he made the decision that he couldn’t get to [the requisite] 218 [votes on the House floor], and as a result he’s taken himself out of the race.”
McCarthy was considered Boehner’s favoured candidate.
Thursday’s developments show the extreme state of disarray in which House Republicans now find themselves, with the balance of power in the hands of an extreme conservative minority who have the ability to topple the speaker at any time – a situation which may see Democrats becoming nostalgic for the Boehner era.
Source: The Guardian
Chaos overtook the Republican party on Thursday, as the election for a new House speaker was postponed after current majority whip Kevin McCarthy backed out of the race.
The current House speaker, John Boehner, told the conference that the election was postponed at a meeting that was supposed to see the House Republicans vote for their nominee for speaker.
It is still unclear whether the vote on the House floor for speaker, which had been scheduled for 29 October, will be postponed. No new date has yet been set for the Republican party vote, which would have selected the GOP nominee today.
In a statement, Boehner said: “After Leader McCarthy’s announcement, members of the House Republican Conference will not vote today for a new speaker. As I have said previously, I will serve as speaker until the House votes to elect a new speaker. 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.”
“I think I shocked some of you, huh,” McCarthy said to reporters outside the meeting. He said that he had decided that he had to “put this conference first”. He said he would stay on as majority leader, but that the party needed “a new face” as speaker. “I feel good about the decision,” he said.
The surprise move came just 24 hours after the so-called Freedom Caucus, a group of hardline rightwing Republicans, announced that they were backing Daniel Webster against McCarthy.
“Two minutes ago I was in there listening to what I thought was going to be his nominating speech, only to learn that he’s not running,” said Ryan Costello of California.
“McCarthy backed out, said he was not going to run at this time, then Speaker Boehner got up, said the election was postponed, then the chairwoman banged the gavel and the meeting was over,” Costello said. “And then we all looked around at one another and I don’t think half of us knew what had happened.”
Representative Jason Chaffetz, whose own campaign to be speaker was thought to have run aground before Thursday’s announcement by McCarthy turned the race on its head, told reporters that he was still running – though he hinted it was too early to say whether McCarthy’s exit made him the frontrunner.
Chaffetz said he was “surprised, stunned and shocked” by the announcement.
“[I] didn’t see that coming. Kevin McCarthy is a very good man, and he has always been one that puts his country before everyone else.” He said that he and McCarthy “stand shoulder to shoulder with the same desire, and that is to unite this party”.
“I really do believe it is time for a fresh start,” he continued. “That is the whole genesis of my campaign.” But, he said, the conference “is going to have to do some deep soul-searching”.
Darrell Issa, an influential California Republican congressman and chair of the House oversight committee, said “I think it’s obvious that all members of the conference were shocked” by McCarthy’s sudden withdrawal. “Kevin McCarthy had the vast majority of the conference’s confidence and votes,” Issa said, “but he made the decision that he couldn’t get to [the requisite] 218 [votes on the House floor], and as a result he’s taken himself out of the race.”
McCarthy was considered Boehner’s favoured candidate.
Thursday’s developments show the extreme state of disarray in which House Republicans now find themselves, with the balance of power in the hands of an extreme conservative minority who have the ability to topple the speaker at any time – a situation which may see Democrats becoming nostalgic for the Boehner era.
Source: The Guardian
No comments:
Post a Comment