House Speaker John Boehner made the surprise announcement this morning that he is going to resign. Not only from the leadership role, but from Congress too. He plans to step down at the end of October. I applaud the decision, and wish all lawmakers would step down after being in Washington, DC for so long. Now the big question is who will replace him.
His departure could set up a bruising succession fight, with the sizable number of very conservative lawmakers seeking a sterner hand at the helm. Conservative pressure groups are already demanding that.
“Too often, Speaker Boehner has stood in the way. Today’s announcement is a sign that the voice of the American people is breaking through in Washington,” said Michael A. Needham, CEO of Heritage Action. “Now is the time for a principled, conservative leader to emerge.”
Rep. Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican who’d been seen as a likely successor, ruled himself out Friday morning, saying “it’s a good job for an empty-nester” but that he doesn’t want it because he has young children at home.
He said he assumed Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, is the person the party will turn to. (Read More)
Truth be told, Boehner has long struck me as less culpable than McConnell and the House a less troublesome institution than the Senate. I wish it has been McConnell heading out the door. About 1/2 the Senate Republican caucus co-operated in a plan to re-authorize the Export-Import Bank. That’s a small issue, but a telling one because it’s such an easy call. There is zero reason to have a public agency engaged in trade finance bar that it benefits a small range of companies who get Donohue of the Chamber of Commerce to lobby for them It’s a petty crony capitalist racket and McConnell was willing to lie through his teeth to resistant members of the Senate Republican caucus to get it done. He’s not fit to hold the position he does, and neither are the 20-odd Republican Senators who voted with him.