UPDATE: There are no more rumors. Speaker Boehner announced today that the House Majority Leader and WHIP elections will be pushed back for a month. There were rumors over the weekend that Boehner might do so, though his office said all leadership elections were held this Thursday at this time. I guess a change of plans (Via Politico):
Speaker John Boehner postponed the election of a majority leader and majority whip until next month, a blow to Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), who announced Sunday night that he had the votes to win the race.
The House Republican Conference will still choose its nominee for Speaker of the House on Thursday, and the full chamber will vote on the next speaker on Oct. 29.
Below is a statement from the speaker’s office: :
When I announced last month, I said I would continue to serve in October. After consulting with my colleagues, I am announcing today that all members of the House of Representatives will vote to elect the next speaker during the floor vote on October 29.
“Next Thursday, October 8, members of the Republican Conference will meet to elect our speaker candidate. After selecting a modern speaker on October 29, our conference members will elect the rest of their leadership team. The modern speaker will set the date for these additional leadership elections. This modern process will ensure that House Republicans have a sturdy, unified team to lead our conference and focus on the priorities of the American people. “
Updates will definitely follow.
***Original post***
By PoliticoThere are rumors that gregarious house speaker John Boehner may postpone the elections for the House Majority Leader and Whip to quell unrest at the Republican conference. If that happened, only the vote for speaker would take place on Thursday. But for now, All Executive elections are still on, according to Boehner’s office.
According to sources involved in the planning, there is significant unrest within the Republican conference, and delaying the election could allow more time to resolve the mood.
But the move would also give the respective wing of the conference more time to find a running mate against Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise and Georgia Rep. Tom Price.
“There is broad interest in discussing rule changes before we discuss leadership changes,” said Mulvaney and Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio). “Both conservatives and centrists are interested in changing the structure of how conferences are run and how the house operates. If we immediately jump to leadership elections, we may not have time for debate.”
Boehner (R-Ohio) has not yet agreed to delay, but will discuss it with other leaders on Monday and Tuesday.
“All leadership elections remain on Thursday,” said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for the speaker.
Speaker Boehner will resign from his speakership and seat in Congress on October 30. He planned to serve overdue last year, but former Rep. Eric Cantor’s defeat of David Brat changed the entire plan, according to Boehner’s office. The speaker also thought about the institution and how a prolonged battle over who would replace him would do irreparable damage to the office.
As Guy noted on Friday, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has thrown his hat into the Speakerivers ring house by challenging favored Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
