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Boehner under attack from conservative Republicans
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December 10, 2012 There is apparently a growing revolt against the House GOP leadership and Speaker John Boehner. It appears to have been revved up by the purge of four conservative House members by Boehner last week, without the agreement of at least some of the committee chairs. They, of course, will toe the line in support of Boehner but there is a grassroots movement spreading among GOP conservatives, particularly the Liberty caucus and TEA party activists.
An example of the revolt is Ned Ryun's piece in Monday's Red State Ruyn says:: If conservatives want to keep the House and win the Senate, we need to fire John Boehner as speaker of the House. We only need 16 House votes to do it.
As most conservatives know, Boehner and the House GOP Steering Committee decided to purge four conservative House members from their committee. Congressmen Justin Amash and Tim Huelskamp were removed from the House Budget Committee, and Congressmen David Schweikert and Walter Jones were cut from the Financial Services Committee.
Amash, Huelskamp, and Schweikert were targeted because they were too fiscally conservative—all three have voted against Boehner's debt ceiling hikes. Amash and Huelskamp were the only two GOP votes against House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's budget.
Amash explained that vote at yesterday's Bloggers' Briefing at the Heritage Foundation, "It's unacceptable to have unbalanced budgets until 2040."
For anyone outside of DC, this statement seems obvious. Only in Washington is balancing the budget radical.
Many conservatives voted for the Ryan budget because they didn't want to "let the perfect be the enemy of the good." I understand that, but we shouldn't criticize those who actually understand the depth of our debt problem and plan to propose real answers.
If Speaker Boehner wants to purge independent, bold conservatives—I think it's time he gets fired as Speaker. Not only for the purge. He has failed to effectively win negotiations with President Obama and appointed moderate committee chairs. To the public, Boehner may appear radical but in reality he proposes milquetoast policies, like the tax-hikes he proposed this week.
While the caucus has already voted in support of John Boehner as speaker of the 113th Congress, the final floor vote doesn't happen until early January.
Everyone thinks it's a fairytale, but the Conservative Movement is capable of firing Boehner with just 16 votes.
The House rules demand that a Speaker receive a majority—218 votes—to be elected speaker. If no nominee for speaker receives 218, the House remains speakerless—as it did during parts of the Civil War.
If 16 House Republicans were to abstain from voting for Speaker, Boehner would only receive 217 votes. Click here to read the rest of the story.
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