Two top House Republicans endorsed House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) today in an effort to nip another potential conservative coup attempt in the bud.
Former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan was unequivocal. “The best person to lead the conference right now is John Boehner, and any attempt to remove him would be counterproductive,” the House Ways and Means Committee chairman told Politico.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, whom restive House conservatives have contemplated as a Boehner replacement, also backed the speaker. “The intrigue and fighting amongst ourselves only makes it harder to get that done,” he said. “It ought to stop immediately.”
The twin endorsements come one day after the House Freedom Caucus, a group that formed earlier this year in order to pressure GOP leadership in tactical fights, suffered it’s first public defection. Representative Tom McClintock (R., Calif.) left the group in protest of its refusal to back any government-funding bill that did not strip out all appropriations for Planned Parenthood.
#share#The show of strength arrives as rumors of an impending Boehner overthrow have reached a new crescendo, touching even House Whip Steve Scalise and GOP Conference chair Cathy McMorris-Rodgers. “The highest-ranking woman in the House GOP, she has been busy consulting fellow lawmakers on a policy platform for the conference,” Politico notes. “Scalise has been asking lawmakers to commit to him in a race for majority leader if one develops. Aides to Scalise and McMorris Rodgers said the lawmakers back Boehner’s continued tenure as speaker.”
— Joel Gehrke is a political reporter for National Review.