Tag Archives: Speaker of the house

Featured, US

Paul Ryan Elected Speaker Of The House

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By Steve Guest Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has been elected the new Speaker of the House for the 114th Congress.

Elected with 236 votes on Thursday, Ryan is the 54th Speaker of the House of Representatives. Rep. Nancy Pelosi received 184 votes, Rep. Daniel Webster of Florida received nine, Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee received one, Rep. John Lewis of Georgia received one, and Colin Powell received one vote.

Ryan, formerly chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and 2012 Republican vice presidential candidate, takes over after John Boehner retired from the speakership.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington and chair of the House Republican Conference nominated Ryan in a speech that received a standing ovation from both sides of the aisle.

WATCH:

McMorris Rodgers said, “In the House we are eager for a fresh start that will make us more effective to fulfill our obligation to reflect the will of the people and to re-establish the balance of power and there’s no better person to lead us in that calling than [Ryan].”

Ryan has been in the House for almost 17 years and led the House Budget Committee and later was the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.  

Rodgers said, “He’s more than a chairman to us. He’s more than a colleague. He’s our friend. He’s a leader and through it all, he’s never forgotten his roots.”

“There’s no place he’d rather be than at home with his family,” explained McMorris Rodgers. “He’ll continue to put the people of this country first and I can say, in all candor, he did not seek this office. The office sought him.”  

Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra of California, chairman of the House Democratic Conference nominated former Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the speakership. After Becerra’s speech, only the Democrats stood up and applauded.

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This article was republished with the permission of The Daily Caller Foundation.

Featured, Politics, US

Fox News Host: House Freedom Caucus, Tea Party Should Leave GOP and Form Third Party

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Decrying the Republican Party’s ineffectiveness in choosing a speaker of the House of Representatives, Fox News journalist and The Five co-host Juan Williams wrote in an op-ed that members of the Tea Party and House Freedom Caucus should quit the GOP and form a new party.

“The Tea Party activists need to make it official and petition to form their own political party. Heritage Action, the Senate Conservative Fund and right-wing talk radio can lead the Tea Party faithful to the exit,” said Williams.

He added, “The time has come for the members of the Freedom Caucus to act boldly and forfeit the ‘R’ after their names – along with all the money and the political infrastructure that come with it.”

Williams wrote that a “political divorce” would be “the quickest path to a return to health for the [Republican] party.”

[RELATED: Kevin McCarthy Drops Out Of Speaker Race]

To Williams, the political declines of Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, and Kevin McCarthy, who were marketed as Republican “young guns” in 2010 before they “went from being the great conservative hope of the party to insufficiently conservative targets for hard-right political retribution,” are symptoms of an irreconcilable division in the party that hurts its chances in upcoming elections. He claimed that there is an “increasing ideological distance between the GOP and the Tea Party over the last few years.”

The Fox News political analyst suggested that the formation of a third party by Tea Party faithful and House Freedom Caucus members, which he dubbed the “Freedom Party,” could lead the U.S. to a future in which it has a European-style coalition government. He said that Sen. Ted Cruz should lead the new party “instead of undercutting mainstream Republicans.”

Williams said that the “status quo” of division and infighting “needs to be disrupted in a big way” before the House votes on raising the debt ceiling or reauthorizing the Highway Trust Fund so that conservatives and libertarians do not interfere with or draw out the process in a way that he feels might attract negative media attention and hurt GOP candidates’ at the polls.

“Once the Freedom Caucus and its supporters are allowed to compete, rise and fall as an autonomous political party, the happier everyone will be and the more functional the government will become,” he said. “[Leaving the Republican Party] will liberate Tea Party politicians from the mainstream GOP’s willingness to make political deals with Democrats. And it will allow far right conservatives to form their own agenda and elevate their own leaders.“

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Lew Rockwell Calls for Grassroots Campaign to Draft Ron Paul for House Speaker

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Ludwig von Mises Institute founder Lew Rockwell published a blog post on Saturday calling for a grassroots campaign to pressure the U.S. House of Representatives to elect former Congressman and libertarian icon Ron Paul to the position of House speaker.

According to Rockwell, Ron Paul Peace and Prosperity Institute executive director Daniel McAdams, who also served as Dr. Paul’s foreign affairs adviser during his time in Congress, says the U.S. House of Representatives is not required to elect one of its current members to serve as speaker. Consequently, Dr. Paul, who retired from Congress in January of 2013, could in theory be eligible to be elected to lead the House.

A Facebook page dedicated to promoting the election of Ron Paul to House speaker, which was created in 2010, saw new activity this week in response to the buzz around Rockwell’s call.

Current House Speaker John Boehner announced last Friday that he will step down from his position next month, which will leave a vacancy.

In comments on last Friday’s Ron Paul Liberty Report, which was published prior to Rockwell’s blog post, Dr. Paul discussed Boehner’s pending resignation and commented on some of the representatives that are rumored to be in contention to replace him.

“You know, my thoughts are that it’ll be more of the same. They talk about the various possible individuals that might replace Boehner, but none of them seem to be, you know, real conservative or constitutionalist, but it’s almost beside the point because the momentum is so great for more spending,” said Dr. Paul.

[RELATED: The Flow: The Magnificent Obsession Of Ron Paul]

Commenting on what he perceives as the Republican-led House of Representatives’ lack of conservatism, Dr. Paul said:

[pull_quote_center]They’re building momentum, and there’s a political advantage to some individuals that if they can close down the government they’ll get some political points and, yet, do you think we’re ever going to see the day when conservatives, limited government constitutionalists will stand up and say, ‘We’re not going to vote for this budget unless you cut out all the funding for these illegal, unconstitutional, insane wars that we’re involved in.’? What are the odds of them even hinting to that? Matter of fact, it’s almost the opposite, because they want to get rid of sequestration… Behind the scenes, Boehner and Pelosi are getting together to get rid of sequestration so funding will go up both on welfare and on warfare.[/pull_quote_center]

Would you like to see Dr. Ron Paul as speaker? Click here to vote in our poll.

Election, Politics, US

Boehner Secures Third Term as Speaker, Retaliates Against Opposition

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On Tuesday, after a loss of 25 votes on the House floor from fellow Republicans, John Boehner was elected to a third term as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He began by retaliating against a few of the representatives who voted against him.

The New York Times reported that the 25 Republicans who voted against Boehner compiled the “largest number of votes against a speaker from members of his or her own party in at least two decades.”

Once he secured the title for the third time, Boehner removed Florida representatives Daniel Webster and Rich Nugent from the House Rules Committee, as a demonstration that what was “accepted during the last Congress is no longer acceptable, not with the House’s biggest GOP majority in decades,” according to Politico.

Webster was one of the candidates who ran against Boehner. He received 12 votes, which was more than any of the other opposing candidates.

The New York Times reported that while the opposition from Louie Gohmert of Texas and Ted Yoho of Florida were expected, Webster’s last-minute entry “came as somewhat of a surprise,” and did the most damage, due to the fact that Webster is a “more pragmatic Republican who has a cordial relationship” with Boehner.

According to Bloomberg, Representative Randy Weber of Texas claims Boehner “won’t let him sponsor a bill headed for House floor consideration because he voted for Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas for speaker.”

“I’ve already lost the authorship of one bill,” said Weber, “Look, it shouldn’t be that way. It was going to be a bill on regulation of clean nuclear energy.”

Politico reported that upon hearing about the growing opposition, Boehner met with representatives Mark Meadows of North Carolina, Justin Amash of Michigan, and Matt Salmon of Arizona on Monday night, and with Raul Labrador of Idaho on Tuesday, prior to the vote. While Meadows voted for Webster, and Amash voted for Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, both Salmon and Labrador voted in support of Boehner.

According to the New York Times, although Boehner has always faced some opposition from other Republicans, Tea Party conservatives “felt betrayed anew late last month” after Boehner ignored their pleas to deny funding in the federal spending plan to enforce Obama’s new immigration orders.

Politico reported that while members are “already making noises about reversing any punitive action by Boehner and the leadership,” the speaker’s allies “warn that further retaliation could be on the way.”

Election, Featured, US

Full List Of Republicans Who Voted Against Boehner

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John Boehner held his title as House Speaker Tuesday, receiving 216 votes. Nancy Pelosi received 164 votes. A total of 25 House Republicans cast their votes for someone other than Boehner, over double the number of votes against Boehner in 2013.

The 25 Republicans who voted against Boehner, as well as who they voted for instead, are listed below:

  • Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.) –  Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)
  • Rep. Brian Babin (Tex.) -“present”
  • Rep. Rod Blum (Iowa) — Rep. Dan Webster (R-Fla.)
  • Rep. Dave Brat (Va.) — Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.)
  • Rep. Jim Bridenstine (Okla.) — Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.)
  • Rep. Curt Clawson (Fla.) — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
  • Rep. Scott DesJarlais (Tenn.) — Jordan
  • Rep. Jeff Duncan(R-S.C.) — Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.)
  • Rep. Scott Garrett (N.J.) — Webster
  • Rep. Chris Gibson (N.Y.) — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)
  • Rep. Paul Gosar (Ariz.) — Webster
  • Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.)– Gohmert
  • Rep. Tim Huelskamp (Kan.) — Webster
  • Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.) — Webster
  • Rep. Steve King — Webster
  • Rep. Tom Massie (Ky.) — Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.)
  • Rep. Mark Meadows (N.C.) — Webster
  • Rep. Rich Nugent (Fla.) — Webster
  • Rep. Gary Palmer (Ala.) — Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)
  • Rep. Bill Posey (Fla.) — Webster
  • Rep. Scott Rigell (Va.) — Webster
  • Rep. Marlin Stutzman (Ind.) — Webster
  • Rep. Randy Weber (Tex.) — Gohmert
  • Webster — Webster
  • Yoho — Yoho

The 2015 vote for House Speaker resulted in the most votes against an incumbent since 1923.

Politics, US

Members Of The House Say Boehner’s Days Are Numbered: “Farewell”

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Speaker of the House John Boehner has been under the gun for well over a year now. In fact, conservative groups have attempted to campaign for the removal of the Ohio republican twice in recent months. Once over his actions with regards to the Benghazi scandal, and again after he removed some of the most fiscally conservative members of Congress from their positions of power. Congressman Justin Amash was among one of those removed.

When the time came to reelect Boehner there were a number of conservatives who voted against him. However, he kept his seat.

Judge Napolitano recently made an appearance on the Tom Sullivan Show where he discussed the passage of the recent continuing resolution, which reopened the federal government.

“I’m going to make a wild prediction. The next time there is a dispute of this magnitude, which will be February, a different human being will be the speaker of the House of Representatives,” says Napolitano.

Napolitano goes on to point out that Boehner no longer represents the leadership of the core conservatives in the House. His sources within the House clarify his prediction.

Sullivan points out that Boehner received a standing ovation upon passing the continuing resolution. “I think it was a farewell,” jokes Napolitano.

Napolitano clarifies that he has no problems with Boehner and believes that he is a wonderful person, but that he simply hasn’t done what he was elected to do.

You can watch the interview here.