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By Scott Wong - 09/25/15 03:14 PM EDT
The abrupt resignation of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) Friday is setting off a four-way race for House majority leader, the No. 2 job in the GOP conference.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who is now the majority leader, is the prohibitive favorite to succeed Boehner when he relinquishes the Speaker’s gavel at the end of October, though Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) is considering a challenge.
Meanwhile, the race for GOP leader is shaping up to be a highly competitive contest between political heavyweights: Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), GOP Conference Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.).
While none of them have officially launched their bid for leader, Scalise and McMorris Rodgers — now the No. 3 and No. 4 leaders, respectively — have been jockeying for position in recent weeks. And just moments after Boehner’s surprise announcement, Sessions was reaching out to fellow GOP colleagues about “the race,” lawmakers said.
“What I’m hearing is that all four of those folks are focusing on leader,” said one GOP lawmaker with ties to leadership. “If those four folks run, those are four very strong people.”
The fact that both Scalise and McMorris Rodgers are eyeing the No. 2 job will open up more seats at the leadership table.
Four potential candidates have emerged in the race for majority whip, the No. 3 spot on the leadership ladder. Scalise’s ambitious chief deputy whip, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), was expected to seek his boss’s job. But he could face challenges from Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and former Chief Deputy Whip Pete Roskam (R-Ill.), who lost to Scalise last year in the race for GOP whip.
Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.), who was elected as part of the Tea Party wave in 2010, on Friday added his name to the mix. Ross said he is reaching out to colleagues about running for whip if Scalise runs for leader.
It’s unclear at this point which lawmakers might run for GOP conference chair, the No. 4 spot. McMorris Rodgers could feasibly keep her current post if she is not elected GOP leader, sources said. GOP Policy Committee Chairman Luke Messer (R-Ind.), who holds the No. 5 job, is taking a looking at the race in the event McMorris Rodgers moves on, sources said.
But asked about his plans Friday, Messer said he was focused on his current role leading policy for House Republicans.
“Given all the scramble, I will take a day or two to think about it,” Messer said, “but my inclination is to stay where I am.”
As for McCarthy, Messer said the majority leader would be the strong favorite in the Speaker’s race. McCarthy in recent years has been traveling the country, stumping and raising cash for GOP colleagues whose votes he’ll need in a competitive contest for the top job.
“Kevin is very good at his job and has worked very hard over a long time,” Messer said. “He has a lot of strong friendships. He would be very hard to beat.”
But McCarthy could face a red-state challenger who could make the case that McCarthy has been too cozy with Boehner and hails from the bluest of blue states, California.
Right now, the most likely challenger appears to be Hensarling, who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
“Chairman Hensarling is considering his options and I expect he will have a decision early next week,” spokeswoman Sarah Rozier said.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told reporters Friday he wouldn’t run for Speaker, as did Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the conservative firebrand and Freedom Caucus co-founder who led the effort this summer to oust Boehner as Speaker.
Meadows’s Freedom Caucus colleague, Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho), has also said he won’t run for Speaker. McCarthy routed Labrador last year in the race for majority leader.
Another name being mentioned in the Speaker’s race is Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.), the former Speaker of the Florida state House who is being recruited by conservatives to take on McCarthy. Webster lacks a whip operation, but he won 12 votes in the Speaker’s race against Boehner in January.
“Yesterday was the Pope’s day; today is Speaker Boehner’s day. Tomorrow is another day,” Webster said in a statement when asked about the Speaker’s race.
In the race for majority leader, Sessions would lean on his large Texas delegation for votes and point to his past experience as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP’s campaign arm.
Price is another Capitol Hill veteran. As chairman of the House Budget Committee, he was partially responsible for crafting the first bicameral GOP budget that passed both chambers in a decade earlier this year.
After former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) lost his primary election in 2014, Price was floated as a possible replacement and said at the time that he had considered a bid.
Instead, Price decided to pursue the gavel on the House Budget Committee, succeeding Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who moved up as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.
Spokesmen for both Price and Sessions had no comment about the leadership race.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/254981-starting-gun-fired-in-gop-...
By Mike Lillis - 09/25/15 04:31 PM EDT
A co-founder of the conservative Freedom Caucus has a warning for any Republican hoping to replace outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio): No one will get the promotion without our blessing.
Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), a sharp of Boehner, said Friday that there are roughly 40 members of the group — and another 20 conservatives outside of it — who won't back any new Speaker who fails their litmus test for conservative purity. And the group's leadership endorsements, he warned, will be “a collective, corporate decision.”
“We're looking for someone who, number one, has conservative principles and actually can articulate them, but also ... follows through on John Boehner's [2011] promise … [to] open up this House and let conservatives have a shot at things,” he added. “And at the end of the day, the Democrats had more shot at amendments than conservatives. So we've gotta talk about process as well.”
Boehner's shocking announcement Friday morning set the stage for what could be a competitive race to replace him. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is thought to be the heir apparent, but others, including several members of the Freedom Caucus, aren't ruling out a challenge.
To replace Boehner, House lawmakers will vote on the floor next month, with 218 supporters required to elect the next Speaker. The Republicans, minus Boehner, hold 246 seats, meaning the winner could afford no more than 28 defections, a figure that lends the 40-member Freedom Caucus leverage.
Democrats will be of little help; they're expected to vote near-unanimously for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Asked if McCarthy is conservative enough to win the group's support, Huelskamp said, “I don't know.”
“I'm not going to pick anybody,” he added. “I'm identifying what I expect them to be able to do.”
Huelskamp laid out a clear disqualifier. Hammering Boehner for using his campaign machine to promote primary challenges against sitting Republicans, including Huelskamp, the Kansas conservative said the Freedom Caucus would oppose any Speaker candidate who was active in similar efforts.
“John Boehner's super-PAC went after conservatives. That is never going to be forgotten,” Huelskamp said. “But there's rumors about others being involved in playing with NRCC [National Republican Congressional Committee] to work against sitting members of the House. ... That will be asked, I think, of anybody who wants to be Speaker. Because conservatives are going to stick together.”
Huelskamp said it's unclear if McCarthy was ever involved in such tactics, but he suggested the Freedom Caucus will be posing the question if the majority leader seeks the gavel.
“We don't know. That's a question he's never had to answer to the group: ‘OK, tell me what you've done. Tell me if you were involved in backstabbing fellow Republicans,’ ” he said. “We want to make sure the Speaker is a Speaker for all the Republicans, not just his buddies.”
Huelskamp also suggested the Freedom Caucus would weigh congressional tenure in choosing their leadership votes. Veteran lawmakers, he suggested, need not apply.
“We can't bring in somebody who's been here 20 years. ... It needs to be somebody younger, somebody actually in the 21st century,” he said. “I mean, not offending those folks, but we need new leadership.”
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/255005-freedom-caucus-flexes-musc...
“We don't know. That's a question he's never had to answer to the group: ‘OK, tell me what you've done. Tell me if you were involved in backstabbing fellow Republicans,’ ” he said. “We want to make sure the Speaker is a Speaker for all the Republicans, not just his buddies.”
Good!!!!!!
It is all good unless the RINOs and Demorats find a way around. They will be trying.
By Bradford Richardson - 09/25/15 06:06 PM EDT
Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) has declared his candidacy to replace Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) as Speaker.
“My goal is for the House of Representatives to be based on principle, not on power,” Webster said in a statement. “Every Member of Congress deserves a seat at the table to be involved in the process. I will continue fighting for this to become a reality in Washington, and will be running for Speaker of the House.”
Webster — a former Speaker of the Florida House — unsuccessfully challenged Boehner for the gavel in January, drawing only 12 votes. He announced his candidacy just two hours before the vote, saying Tea Party conservatives had convinced him to run.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is widely seen as the favorite to win the Speaker’s gavel.
But several conservative Republicans have cautioned that McCarthy isn’t a shoo-in for the position.
“We have enough votes in the House Freedom Caucus to prevent anybody from being Speaker. We will be a voting bloc,” Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) said Friday.
Boehner’s announcement comes amid a struggle between establishment and Tea Party Republicans in the House over whether to tie funding for Planned Parenthood to a government spending bill, a move that could cause a shutdown.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/255030-webster-announces-run-for-...
September 25, 2015, 04:10 pm
By Ben Kamisar
Ben Carson bashed the media for playing politics as he pushed back against characterizations of his controversial comments about Muslims during a Friday speech.
I agree Ben I am being as NOT PC as possible.
September 25, 2015
To Win, We Must Make Things Clear
The key to conservative victory in elections, and then turning electoral victories toward policy, is to make things clear. Most Americans are conservative, although they often do not know it because the left hides facts and tries to keep us confused. Name-calling and fear-mongering are the left's version of political rhetoric.
An excellent example of how this works is the debate over abortion. A study of the results of the various polls on abortion actually shows that most Americans who call themselves "pro-choice" or supporting Roe v. Wade are really neither pro-choice nor in favor of Roe v. Wade.
Carly Fiorina recently noted that disconnect when she stated: "Have you ever read the Democratic Party platform? Well, here's what it says: any abortion, at any time, at any point in a woman's pregnancy, for any reason, to be paid for by taxpayers. … Do you agree with that? Nobody agrees with that! Even people who think they are pro-choice don't agree with that."
Bingo! The left never presents issues honestly, and to the extent that we try to respond to issues the left has framed, we lose. To win, we must make things clear. This was part of the genius of Reagan. How can we do it?
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/09/to_win_we_must_make...
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
Very well stated.
Many things are clear to many, but so few can articulate them so that they are also clear to the audience.
Reagan was very good. Apparently, so is Carly. I heard her drilled by O'Reilly, and she seems to be the sharpest candidate I heard on TV so far.
September 26, 2015, 08:30 am
Donald Trump is calling the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) a "disaster" and vowing to renegotiate or break the deal if elected president.
"It's a disaster," Trump told CBS's Scott Pelley in an interview airing Sunday on "60 Minutes." "We will either renegotiate it or we will break it because you know every agreement has an end.
Pressed on whether he supports free trade, Trump responded, "We need fair trade, not free trade. We need fair trade it's got to be fair."
Trump has blasted trade policies, accusing leaders of allowing China and Mexico to steal U.S. jobs and hurt American workers.
The GOP front-runner also opposed granting President Obama fast-track trade powers.
In his CBS interview, Trump also vowed to tax corporations that move their production overseas.
"Let's say Ford moves to Mexico, if they want to sell that car in the United States, then they pay a tax," he said.
"Here's what's going to happen: they aren't going to build their plant there, they'll build it in the United States."
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/255053-trump-vows-to-renegotiat...
September 26, 2015, 07:44 am
Donald Trump on Friday accused his GOP rivals of seeking to “start World War III over Syria” and suggested the U.S. let Russia take up the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
"They want to start World War III over Syria. Give me a break," Trump said at the State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City.
Trump's statements come as Russia builds up its forces in Syria to help embattled leader Bashar Assad take on ISIS. The U.S. is also leading a coalition against the terror group, but also opposes Assad's regime and has urged him to relinguish power.
President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Monday at the UN General Assembly, with Syria a likely topic of discussion.
Foreign policy has appeared to be a stumbling block for GOP front-runner Trump at times.
In a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt earlier this month, Trump appeared to mix-up the names of top terrorists and confused the Kurds with the Iranian "Quds" force – a special military unit.
Trump initially slammed Hewitt for asking "gotcha" questions, but during the second GOP debate suggested he had just been confused by Hewitt's pronunciation of foreign names.
Trump has touted his foreign policy, noting that he was opposed to the Iraq war, pledging to do more for America's veterans and blasting President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran. He has said he would pick top experts for his administration and rely on their advice.
On Friday, he said that the U.S. had only empowered Iran by invading Iraq.
"I said don’t go into Iraq. I’m the most militant person here, the most militaristic person you’ll ever meet. I believe in the military strongly but I didn’t want to see us invade Iraq," he said.
"We spend $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place that I love by the way… we got nothing. We can’t even go over there."
Trump also said Iraq and Iran were growing closer.
"And right now as you are standing here, Irag is negotiating with Iran . They’re going to merge and Iran is going to get the oil… and the one that gets the rest of it is going to be ISIS."
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/255052-trump-gop-rivals-want-to...
"We spend $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place that I love by the way… we got nothing. We can’t even go over there."
Trump also said Iraq and Iran were growing closer.
"And right now as you are standing here, Irag is negotiating with Iran . They’re going to merge and Iran is going to get the oil… and the one that gets the rest of it is going to be ISIS."
Well said Donald.
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