The leadership turmoil in the U.S. House of Representatives deepened Thursday, as House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy stunned colleagues by withdrawing his candidacy for speaker.
In the chaos that followed, Coweta County Republican U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland put his name forward as a possible speaker. Roswell Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Price had been running for majority leader, but McCarthy will remain in his post, blocking Price’s move.
Price could make a speaker run as well, though he said Thursday that he wants an interim speaker to take Republicans through the 2016 elections. Price did not specify who that might be, though a member who is retiring could fill such a post. Several members also were encouraging a reluctant U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to step in as a consensus candidate.
But in the early hours after McCarthy’s bombshell no one could predict what’s next for a caucus in chaos.
“Everything’s very fluid and dynamic at this point,” said U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, a freshman Republican from Monroe.
Hice is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, the group of a few dozen most-conservative members who helped force Speaker John Boehner out two weeks ago and endorsed a rival to McCarthy, U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla. Grass-roots conservatives also had agitated against McCarthy as no different from Boehner.
Webster, a Georgia Tech graduate, did not have enough support to win in a closed-door meeting of the House Republican caucus. But a would-be speaker still must earn a majority from the entire House — including the opposing party — on the floor. If the Freedom Caucus stuck together on the floor, it could have kept McCarthy from getting the required 218 votes.
So as House Republicans gathered Thursday afternoon over barbecue to make their choice for speaker, McCarthy announced he would stay in his post and Boehner delayed the election of a new speaker indefinitely.
“For us to unite, we probably need a fresh face,” McCarthy told reporters afterward.
It did not take long for Westmoreland to suggest he could be that face. First elected in 2004, Westmoreland has never been a committee chairman or held an elected leadership post, but he said he showed his leadership skills in leading the National Republican Congressional Committee’s redistricting program after the 2010 census — a strategy that helped cement the Republican majority with friendly district lines.
Westmoreland also served as the Republican leader in the Georgia House.
“I’ve got a lot of friends up here on both sides of the aisle and in every group,” Westmoreland said.
Asked how he could pull together the conference when McCarthy could not, Westmoreland replied: “I don’t know that I can. All I’m saying is I’m wiling to try.”
Westmoreland would be a long shot, but he said he is willing to take his chances in a wide-open field in which several candidates divide the vote.
Even other Georgia members were not immediately jumping on the Westmoreland bandwagon.
“I wouldn’t rule it out,” said U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, an Evans Republicans.
Price had been in a heated majority leader race against Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La. In a prepared statement, Price said the best course with McCarthy staying in place would be to pick an interim speaker.
“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,” Price said.
There’s plenty of pressing business ahead, starting with the Treasury Department running out of borrowing authority around Nov. 5. The battle over raising the debt ceiling is always dicey, and President Barack Obama has again said he will not negotiate spending cuts to go along with it, as Republicans desire.
House Democrats have been watching the proceedings with a barely contained sense of glee. But U.S. Rep. David Scott, an Atlanta Democrat, said that if the turmoil continues, he is concerned about the debt ceiling and other deadlines looming.
When asked whether Democrats could help out by joining with some Republicans to elect a more moderate speaker, over the protests of GOP conservatives, Scott said that was unlikely.
“Being practical sometimes does not trump the ideology. … I don’t think Nancy (Pelosi, the minority leader) would take kindly to that,” Scott said.
Republican chatter as the day went on increasingly turned to Ryan, even though he issued an immediate statement after McCarthy’s announcement saying “I will not be a candidate.”
U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., a Boehner loyalist and one of the leaders of the GOP’s moderate wing, said he did not think Ryan had closed the door on the idea.
“He is, at this point, the one most likely to unite us,” Cole said. But the Oklahoman pointed the finger more at the conservatives who now have helped topple Boehner and halt McCarthy.
“I’m pretty confident there will be competent leaders (emerging),” Cole said. “What we really need is to have enough followers that are willing to accept the will of the majority.”
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