The House Republican Conference will meet Tuesday afternoon to discuss the circumstances that led to House Speaker John Boehner’s resignation and how they should replace him.
Conference chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R. Wash.) scheduled the meeting on Monday afternoon. “Over the summer, I met with many of you to brainstorm about our shared vision for America,” she wrote in an e-mail to colleagues. “Those conversations were focused on the future. However, until we address short-term frustrations and tactics, we will never achieve that vision. With the same constructiveness, Tuesday’s conference meeting can be an opportunity for us to listen to one another, learn from each other, and lead together.”
McMorris Rodgers is expected to make a bid to succeed House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy in the likely event that he wins the race to take over the speaker’s gavel, as is House Whip Steve Scalise (R., La.). House Budget Committee chairman Tom Price is also emerging as a formidable challenger for the majority leader’s post, having secured the endorsements of former vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan — one of the most popular members of the House — and House Financial Services Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling, who had been mulling a candidacy of his own.
“The American people are frustrated with the status quo and eager for significant reforms in Washington, D.C. because they fear representative government is becoming a thing of the past,” McMorris Rodgers wrote. “This conference meeting is not about any one leader or group of members. All of us want to work together with the trust and respect our service demands, and it starts with opening lines of communication on Tuesday.”
— Joel Gehrke is a political reporter for National Review.
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