WASHINGTON -- After floating his name for U.S. House Speaker last week, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Coweta County, has spent the congressional recess week in Georgia, including a stop today in Augusta for a cybersecurity summit at Georgia Regents University.
There is not much going on with the speaker race, Westmoreland said by phone this morning, as everyone waits to see whether Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., submits to the numerous calls from his colleagues to ride in and save the day. Everyone else, Westmoreland said, is just trying to enjoy the week away from Washington:
"So I think mainly nobody's wanting to commit to anybody, and it's just really, there's going to probably be 10 or 12 names in the hat if Paul doesn't do it."
Before he left town on Friday, Westmoreland met with fellow southern members to try to feel out the race. Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla., who has the support of the arch-conservative House Freedom Caucus, is remaining in the race. But other Southerners who could jump in include Reps. Jeff Miller (Fla.), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) and Tom Cole (Okla.).
Then there's Texas, "an independent nation," as Westmoreland put it. Rep. Bill Flores sent an email to colleagues this week saying he is "considering pursuit of the Speakership" but only if Ryan does not run. In addition, fellow Texans Michael McCaul and Mike Conaway are considering bids. The powerful Texas delegation, which includes 25 Republicans, holds serious weight if it can come together behind one candidate.
Westmoreland said if Ryan declines, he figures the field will winnow once Texas settles on one of its own and the Southern coalition decides on one candidate to go along with Webster -- who will stick it out as long as he has the Freedom Caucus.
We know at least one person who's not running: Former Georgia Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss said he is out, with a laugh. (It's not totally out of the question, as one does not have to be a member of the House to be its speaker, and Newt Gingrich has indicated he could be persuaded to return.)
Chambliss joined Westmoreland at the cyber summit today, and both spoke about their experience on the issue with the intelligence committees in Congress.
In a phone interview, Chambliss praised GRU -- soon to be Augusta University -- for helping provide a "supply line of students" for the Army's Cyber Command at Fort Gordon along with an expanded National Security Agency facility in the area. Despite federal budgetary constraints, Chambliss said the funding for cybersecurity will only grow:
"Sequestration is a problem, but from a priority standpoint cyber is right at the top of the Army's list. And what [Army leadership is] seeing is an increase in personnel and increase in funding from DOD for cyberdefense over the next five years. It's certainly an issue, sequestration is, but the Army has its priorities right."
Westmoreland will return to Washington on Friday to join the Select Committee on Benghazi to question close Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin. The committee has taken a hit lately after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., both said the committee's purpose is to damage Clinton politically, and a former staffer said the same among a litany of allegations about the committee's misuse of taxpayer funds.
Westmoreland said those who think the committee is politically motivated "don't know what they're talking about" and he never met ex-staffer Bradley Podliska.
"Those are crazy allegations," Westmoreland said.
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