WASHINGTON -- U.S. House Republicans were ready to slip into their month-long break, wrapping up a three-month highway bill punt combined with some help for VA hospitals.
They had their town-hall talking points ready to attack the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran and play up efforts to defund Planned Parenthood.
And then on Tuesday evening, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., dropped a motion to evict John Boehner from the speaker's chair.
"It just really rocked this entire building today," said Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville.
Along with Meadows, Loudermilk is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, a group whose mission is to yank leadership to the right. (Fellow freshman Rep. Jody Hice, R-Monroe, also is in the group.)
They did not get a heads-up from Meadows. Loudermilk and a group of Freedom Caucus members met with Meadows this morning to talk about his proposal, and Loudermilk came away skeptical -- though not totally dismissive:
"We're trying to get our hands wrapped around this. What is the cause? We're seeing what the cause is. What is the outcome as far as what is the procedure? We vacate the chair today, then what? The day before we go on August recess, what happens? We don't want to put ourselves in a position worse than we're in already."
Any possible vote to get rid of Boehner would not happen until after August. It would require only a simple majority -- so if all the Democrats join in, it would take 30 Republicans to boot Boehner. No alternative speaker has yet stepped forward.
Loudermilk campaigned against keeping Boehner as speaker and voted against him in a closed-door November 2014 voice vote, but stuck with the speaker on the floor in January -- along with the entire Georgia GOP delegation. He got some pushback for it, but Loudermilk maintained again today that "I didn't have a choice" in the January vote, with no viable opponent for Boehner.
He said Meadows' timing is poor, with the Iran deal looming and Boehner not having done anything lately to really anger conservatives. But Loudermilk did not rule out supporting the measure.
"We will hear from our constituents on it," he said. "I've got a town hall meeting next week in Cherokee County. I’m sure this is going to be a topic."
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Coweta County, was less diplomatic. A conservative who occasionally breaks with leadership, Westmoreland remains on the "whip team" and was instrumental in keeping the Georgia delegation united in January to back Boehner.
Westmoreland called Meadows "selfish." And some other things:
"The Democrats knew that they were fixing to go into the August recess having to be accountable for this, the pressure. Now you know they're going to be talking about this rather than the issues, and that's what they're known for is taking this out. And I can't believe we had one of our own want to take the attention off of this. ...
"They had an opportunity in November of last year. Nobody ran against Boehner. They had another opportunity in January – that was ill-conceived, in my opinion – and now they're trying to ruin their chances of electing anybody in leadership in 2016 because they're doing nothing but alienating some of the people. And I say they – he's not doing anything but alienating some of the people he associates with. This is just nuts."
Rep. Tom Price, R-Roswell, whose name sometimes is floated for speaker at such moments, also dismissed the idea. As he told WSB-Radio's Jamie Dupree: "I don't find this helpful or productive in any way."
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