Update: McCarthy announces he wants to be Mr. Speaker

  • House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy will announce today his run for Speaker of the House.

    House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy will announce today his run for Speaker of the House.

UPDATE—BAKERSFIELD, CA (Monday, Sept. 28, 2015 at 1:09 p.m.)—Below is the full letter that will be sent shortly to the Members of the Republican Conference of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kevin McCarthy:

Friends,

Our conference has been through a lot together. We are a part of the largest Republican majority since 1928. We have made real progress towards shrinking an overgrown federal government and reforming our broken entitlement system. But our work is far from done. We can’t ignore the differences that exist, but we can and must heal the divisions in our conference with work, time, and trust. That is why I have decided to run for Speaker of the House and graciously ask for your support.

You all know me. We’ve spent late nights on the House Floor together. I’ve visited your districts and met your families and constituents. More importantly, I have gotten to know your ideas, your goals, and your vision for our conference and our country.

I am running to be your Speaker because I know that the People’s House works best when the leadership you elect listens to members and respects the legislative process entrusted to committees. In short, I am guided by something Ronald Reagan once said: “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”

But I am also sensitive to what is happening outside of the Beltway. I want us to be much closer to the people we represent, and I want them to once again feel like this is their government, they are in charge, and we are here to serve them.

If elected Speaker, I promise you that we will have the courage to lead the fight for our conservative principles and make our case to the American people. But we will also have the wisdom to listen to our constituents and each other so that we always move forward together.

Over the past weekend, I reached out to every one of you to listen to your opinions and ask for your advice. I know that you ran for Congress to make a difference, to leave a better country for your kids and grandkids. There are challenges ahead, but unified we have an amazing opportunity to make lasting conservative change. And I know when we work together under the banner of freedom and opportunity there is little that is out of our reach.

I look forward to fighting with you for our shared conservative principles.

Sincerely,
Kevin

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Washington, D.C. (Friday, Sept. 25, 2015 at 7:30 a.m.)—Reports from Washington, D.C. this morning say that John Boehner, 65 held an emotional meeting with Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives today to say he plans to resign his seat in the U.S. Congress and his position as Speaker of the House.

Bakersfield Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy is serving as House Majority Leader. It is seen as highly likely that he will be first in line to replace Boehner.

These events come just as other members of the U.S. House of Representatives is considering a tactic to shut down the United States government once again over ideological issues.

Boehner, from Ohio, was first elected to Congress in 1990. He has been Speaker of the House since 2011 in an increasingly polarized government, often battered by the hardball tactics of new Tea Party-inspired conservative representatives.

Conservative House Republicans say they plan to vote against any federal budget which includes funds for Planned Parenthood. The budget must be passed by October 1. The Speaker of the House indicated he plans to resign on October 30.

The New York Times reports that Boehner, a Catholic, “had a private audience with Francis before the pope’s address to a joint session of Congress,” yesterday.

In his address to Congress afterward, Pope Francis urged greater reliance on dialogue rather than discord.

Boehner’s resignation is part of the ongoing tactical wrangling between the far right of the Republican party and more senior statesmen who seek to avoid the destructive impact a government shutdown could have on millions of Americans and the economy.

Amber Phillips of The Washington Post wrote: “a group of about 30 tea party Republicans [threatened] to oust Boehner as their leader if he didn’t help them pass a budget that cut some $500 million for Planned Parenthood, one of the major sticking points in the budget negotiations. Now, those very same conservatives have lost their main leverage to get what they want. Boehner is offering to step down himself.”

She quoted Steve Bell, director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center about Boehner’s decision: “He took a bullet for the country.”

###—Patric Hedlund

This is part of the September 25, 2015 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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