Texas Rep. Gohmert to challenge Boehner for House speaker post
Published January 04, 2015
Will Republicans challenge Obama's veto pen?
Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert said Sunday that he will challenge House Speaker John Boehner for his post when Congress returns this week to Washington.
Gohmert, among the House Republican caucus’ most conservative members, made the announcement on “Fox and Friends,” saying he decided to run after Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., said Saturday that he would challenge Boehner for the chamber’s top post.
“We have heard from a lot of Republicans that said, ‘I would vote for somebody besides speaker Boehner.’ But nobody will put their name out there,” Gohmert said. “That changed yesterday with Ted Yoho.”
Gohmert also hinted that another House member will announce a challenge to Boehner on Sunday.
Boehner once again returns to Capitol Hill amid challenges to keep his post, largely from the conservative members who most recently say he caved in by agreeing last month to a $1.1 trillion temporary federal spending bill, which averted another partial government shutdown.
Group members complained in part because they think Boehner did not try to punish President Obama enough for sidestepping Congress on immigration reform.
“After the November elections gave Republicans control of the Senate, voters made clear they wanted change,” Gohmert also said Sunday. “There have been numerous examples of problematic Republican leadership, but we were hopeful our leaders got the voters’ message. However, after our speaker forced through the CR omnibus by passing it with Democratic votes and without time to read it, it seemed clear that we needed new leadership. There had been much discussion. But, until yesterday, no one had stepped up.”
Gohmert, during an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Friday, said his party must use its power in the House to defund President Obama’s immigration plan as well as ObamaCare. He also said the GOP must stop excessive government regulation, citing the Keystone pipeline.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015...-speaker-post/
Louie Gohmert to Challenge Boehner for Speaker
by Sarah Rumpf
4 Jan 2015
1913 comments
Representative Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) announced Sunday morning on Fox & Friends that he would challenge current Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in his re-election bid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=-WIJr-1ZJ5s
Boehner has faced growing criticism from grassroots activists skeptical of his conservatism. As Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle reported, recent polling shows a majority of Republican voters would like their Representative to vote for someone other than Boehner.
Gohmert, first elected to Congress in 2004, told Tucker Carlson, “We’ve heard from a lot of Republicans that [they would] vote for somebody besides Speaker Boehner but nobody will put their name out there as running, so there’s nobody out there to vote for.” Gohmert mentioned that changed with the previous day’s announcement from Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Florida), and then Gohmert said, “And I’m putting my name out there also today to be another candidate for Speaker.”
He then spent a few minutes discussing the rules and procedures for the Speaker’s vote, to address concerns that if the Republicans split the vote, that Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi could be re-elected as Speaker by getting more votes from Democrats than any Republican candidate got. “That’s hogwash,” said Gohmert, explaining that the rules awarded the Speakership to the first candidate who got a majority of the Representatives’ ballots that were cast for a person. In other words, Pelosi could only win if Republicans turned in ballots that only voted “present,” and not a person’s name.
Gohmert cited the recent negotiations over the CRomnibus bill, calling it a “terrible strategy” and voicing frustrations that Boehner had promised to “fight amnesty tooth and nail” but instead funded it, and that he had “deceived” Republicans by working with Obama and Pelosi to get enough votes to pass the bill. In a recent interview with Breitbart Texas, Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) discussed that bill and disagreed that it would have been possible to block funding for Obama’s executive amnesty under that bill, with the Democrats still having majority power in the Senate for a few more weeks.
“It’s time for a change,” said Gohmert, citing the poll that showed that most Republican voters did not support Boehner’s reelection. He also criticized Boehner for breaking a previous promise not to run again.
Carlson asked Gohmert what he would do differently than Boehner if he were elected Speaker. “We will fight amnesty tooth and nail, we will use the powers of the purse, we will have better oversight, we will fight to defund Obamacare, and we have positive solutions…solutions that will return power to the people,” he said, mentioning some of the ideas from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), like expanding health savings accounts.
Gohmert specifically cited his annoyance that long, complicated bills continued to be presented to Congress without adequate time to review and read them.
As Gohmert noted, Yoho, who begins his second term in Congress this month, also threw his hat in the ring Saturday night, sending out a press release announcing that he would also run against Boehner for Speaker.
Gohmert also released a written statement about his announcement:
After the November elections gave Republicans control of the Senate, voters made clear they wanted change. There have been numerous examples of problematic Republican leadership, but we were hopeful our leaders got the voters’ message. However, after our Speaker forced through the CRomnibus by passing it with Democratic votes and without time to read it, it seemed clear that we needed new leadership. There had been much discussion. But, until yesterday, no one had stepped up.
I applaud my friend Rep. Ted Yoho for putting his name forward as an alternative to the status quo. Ted is a good man for whom I could vote, but I have heard from many supporters and also friends in Congress who have urged me to put forward my name for Speaker as well to increase our chances of change. That is why I am also offering my name as a candidate for Speaker.
There is false information being floated that any Republican candidates in addition to the current Speaker will split the vote and give the Speaker’s gavel to Congresswoman Pelosi. This is nothing but a scare tactic to keep the current regime in power.
As long as Republicans vote for an adult American citizen for Speaker, no Democrat can win. Only if 29 Republicans voted “Present” would there be a chance for a Democrat to win.
To win the Speaker’s race, an adult American citizen has to get a clear majority of all Members of Congress on the House floor voting for an eligible person. Voting “Present” simply reduces the number of votes required to win a majority. If no one wins a majority on the first ballot, then we go to a second vote, then a third, until someone gets a majority.
At this point, the Speaker’s election is not about a particular candidate. It is about whether we keep the status quo or make the change the country demands. I am putting forward my name for consideration as Speaker and hope that with a new Speaker, be that me or someone else, we can fight for the ideals and principles that the voters wanted when they elected us in November.
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/...r-for-speaker/
Louie Gohmert: Boehner ‘Sold Out’ & ‘Betrayed’ Republicans
by Tony Lee
5 Jan 2015
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) is challenging House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) for Speaker because many Republicans and conservative voters feel betrayed by Boehner.
Though Boehner vowed to fight the Obama administration’s lawlessness “tooth and nail,” Boehner’s actions immediately after the midterm elections suggested that he would not, according to Gohmert, who said that that “all the things that were promised” by the leadership “haven’t happened” after the midterms gave Republicans control of Congress.
Appearing on Breitbart News Sunday, Gohmert told host and Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon that voters in the midterm elections “made a really bold statement” and gave Republicans “a chance to stop the executive amnesty and all of the lawlessness of the administration.”
“And they expect us to do that,” Gohmert said.
Gohmert believes that if a leadership change is not made, enough conservatives may stay at home in 2016 like they did in 2012 to cost Republicans the White House. According to polling from Pat Caddell’s Caddell Associates, 60% of those who voted for Republicans in the midterms “definitely” or “probably” want a new Speaker
He added that America is in “deep trouble,” but Obama got a second term because not enough conservatives were galvanized to vote in 2012 because “they didn’t feel like they had a choice.” He said “it’s going to be even worse in 2016 if we don’t we don’t show voters that we got the message and we are standing for them… [by not letting] this lawless, unconstitutional activity go on.”
Gohmert said that he ultimately decided to challenge Boehner because so many House Republicans are “looking for excuses to avoid keeping their commitment to stand up for what their constituents want.” He said a lot of House Members were saying they had to support Boehner because he was the only one who has asked for their vote.
“Would you say, ‘I got to vote for an outright communist in the next election because he is the one that has personally asked me for my vote?'” Gohmert quipped.
Gohmert noted that 29 or more House Republicans must “stand firm until we get a new Speaker” and emphasized that House Members cannot vote “present” because it reduces the number that Boehner needs to retain his Speakership.
On immigration, Gohmert said “it makes no sense to be passing anything else until the border is secure.” He said “it’s amazing how many people feel like they got sold out by the Speaker and his Republican leaders” to corporate interests like the Chamber of Commerce “when the interests of the country took a back seat.”
“We’ve got to change that by standing up for what we promised to do,” he said.
Regarding the so-called “abysmal” CRomnibus bill that did not defund Obama’s executive amnesty, Gohmert noted that Boehner thought Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) were more important than conservatives. Gohmert said that Boehner did not meet with conservatives before the vote on the spending bill because he “didn’t feel he was going to get our votes so he preferred to get Obama and Pelosi to get the votes for him. That tells you right there how bad this bill was. That tells you basically all you need to know.”
“It just seemed to be a slap in the face to all of those great voters who gave us more seats in the House and the majority in the Senate,” Gohmert said, noting that so many Republicans have been telling him that “they feel betrayed.”
If he becomes the next Speaker, Gohmert said there would be regular order, an energy policy and jobs bill, and more oversight over the lawlessness in the executive branch. He said Congress would also “start using the power of the purse to curtail the outlandish and unconstitutional activities that are going on” and combat the National Security Agency’s spying on Americans.
Gohmert and Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) are challenging Boehner. And at least nine House Republicans have publicly indicated that they will vote against Boehner this week.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...d-republicans/
