Representative John Boehner shocked the political world last Friday with his announcement about his intention to resign from his position as the Speaker of the House at the end of October. The impromptu announcement has created a scramble to find the next Speaker in the upcoming weeks. The first name that many Republicans believed could become the next to fill the position was Kevin McCarthy of California. After some questionable remarks about House Special Committee on Benghazi, McCarthy has begun to receive some criticism not only from Democrat, but also from some fellow Republicans. Although the Californian representative still appears to be the front runner for the Speaker position there are some other Republicans that have thrown their names into the competition.
Georgia's Sixth Congressional District representative Tom Price is one of the few that has decided to challenge for the position. He is the chairman of the House Budget Committee and is conservative background could bid him well as the Republicans appear to be searching for a Speaker that is more conservative than the slightly more moderate Boehner. Another key challenger in the race for Speaker of the House is majority whip Steve Calise. Roll Call believes that Scalise may have the upper hand on Price, because of his ability to raise more money for the Republican party than the representative from Georgia. Tom Price, however, believes that that "folks are interested in picking the best person that they think can bring us together" rather than focusing on who can bring in the most money. The race is on for who will be the Speaker of the House and it will be interesting to see what the Republicans value the most for the leader of Congress.
I think it is somewhat revealing that fundraising is being considered such a major factor in the competition for Speaker of the House. Initially it seemed that the Republicans wished to have a leader that would uphold more conservative values in the position, but with this report there looks to be other factors at play. Raising money for the party and for elections is no doubt important, but I do not think that it should play a deciding factor on who should lead the House of Representatives. I tend to side more with the views of Tom Price in that the individual selected for the job should be the one that can lead and do the best job of uniting the highly divided Republican party. Time will tell who will become the next Speaker of the House, but it will be interesting to see where the values of the Republican party truly lie in the way that the decision process is conducted.
Source:
http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/majority-leader-race-scalise-lapping-price-key-measure/?dcz=
http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/kevin-mccarthy-never-intention-benghazi-committee-politics-hillary-clinton/?dcz=
1 comment:
It's interesting that party fundraising could potentially play a role in the upcoming election for the Speakership. While mobilizing the party might be the most important part of the Speakership position, due to the ever-rising cost of campaigns, factors like fundraising and popularity amongst the electorate could also come into play. I wonder how much these other factors will determine the outcome of the race for Speakership.
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