WASHINGTON -- Chaos reigns on one side of the Capitol this afternoon as House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy surprised everyone by withdrawing from the speaker's race, which has now been postponed indefinitely.
McCarthy will remain in his post, he said, meaning that Roswell Republican Rep. Tom Price will be blocked out from his majority leader campaign.
Price's proposal, now, is to have a speaker who serves through 2016. He did not say who that person should be. In a prepared statement Price said:
"Now is the time for our members to come together and have an honest conversation about how we unify our Conference. The best course would be for us to select a candidate for Speaker who will serve in that capacity for the next 15 months. This would allow the House to complete the business in a responsible manner, providing ample time for everyone's voices to be heard, leading into full leadership elections in November of 2016."
House Republicans had been slated to select a candidate for speaker today go to the floor Oct. 29, where the full House would get a chance to vote and the speaker must earn 218 votes. The conservative wing of the House GOP caucus had endorsed Webster and had enough votes to block McCarthy on the floor.
After shocking House GOP members as they prepared to vote, McCarthy told reporters that he did not want to become speaker with 220 votes, but rather the unanimous support of Republicans, and he was not the guy to do it.
But who is?
"I think there are some people who can unite this caucus and I’m hoping they’ll step forward," said Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler. Not that he would share anyone specific. "Not at this point, but I’m certainly running those thoughts through my head."
Carter said the shock inside the large meeting room in the Longworth House Office Building this afternoon was not unlike Speaker John Boehner's departure announcement less than two weeks ago:
I think it truly was a case of Kevin not wanting to divide the caucus and wanting to -- I think it was another selfless act on the part of a very good member, just like I thought Boehner's action was a very selfless act."
Or, as Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger, put it in a text message: "Just another act in a multi-act play."
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