Some mem­bers are not abandon­ing hope that Rep. Paul Ry­an, who many call the closest thing that frac­tious Re­pub­lic­ans have to a con­sensus pick for speak­er, may re­verse his de­cision to avoid the con­test.

Some mem­bers are not abandon­ing hope that Rep. Paul Ry­an, who many call the closest thing that frac­tious Re­pub­lic­ans have to a con­sensus pick for speak­er, may re­verse his de­cision to avoid the con­test. Evan Vucci/AP file photo

House Republicans Leave Washington With No Answers

A Friday meeting gave no resolution to the fallout from Kevin McCarthy’s sudden decision to drop his speaker bid.

House Re­pub­lic­ans left Wash­ing­ton for the weeklong Colum­bus Day re­cess Fri­day with no path­way for end­ing the polit­ic­al tu­mult and un­cer­tainty in their lead­er­ship ranks.

But mem­bers are not abandon­ing hope that Rep. Paul Ry­an, who many call the closest thing that frac­tious Re­pub­lic­ans have to a con­sensus pick for speak­er, may re­verse his de­cision to avoid the con­test to re­place out­go­ing Speak­er John Boehner.

“He’s not say­ing no any­more,” Rep. Lynn West­mo­re­land, who is weigh­ing his own run but says he’d sup­port Ry­an if he gets in, told Na­tion­al Journ­al.

Still, a spokes­man for Ry­an, the in­flu­en­tial Ways and Means Com­mit­tee chair­man, said Fri­day af­ter­noon he re­mains on the side­lines des­pite the in­tense ef­forts to draft him. “Chair­man Ry­an ap­pre­ci­ates the sup­port he’s get­ting from his col­leagues but is still not run­ning for speak­er,” spokes­man Brendan Buck said.

Ry­an him­self said little pub­licly as he headed home to Wis­con­sin Fri­day af­ter­noon. “Really I don’t have any­thing more to add or say. Noth­ing has changed. Right now I am just go­ing to catch my flight,” he told re­port­ers as he left the Cap­it­ol.

The in­trigue around Ry­an comes a day after House Ma­jor­ity Lead­er Kev­in Mc­Carthy sud­denly dropped his bid to suc­ceed Boehner, who had planned to leave Con­gress the end of the month, but says he’ll stay on un­til a suc­cessor is in place.

The draft-Ry­an move­ment re­mains in­tense even as rest­ive House Re­pub­lic­ans, led by many of the pan­el’s most con­ser­vat­ive mem­bers, are push­ing for pro­ced­ur­al changes that would give rank-and-file mem­bers more power. The House GOP con­fer­ence met Fri­day morn­ing for their latest soul-search­ing dis­cus­sion.

“I want to see a change in the cul­ture of Wash­ing­ton D.C., and I think the way you do that is not who you elect, but it’s the pro­cess, it’s the pro­ced­ures. So there is a num­ber that are say­ing, and I agree with this, [that] be­fore we move ahead with a Speak­er vote, let’s ad­dress the pro­cess, let’s ad­dress the rules, let’s make sure that every mem­ber of Con­gress has a voice here,” said Barry Loudermilk, a mem­ber of the House Free­dom Caucus, a group of GOP hard­liners who made clear they would not have backed Mc­Carthy.

House Re­pub­lic­an lead­ers form­ally an­nounced a task force on Fri­day to ex­am­ine rules and pro­ced­ur­al changes, which con­ser­vat­ives have been ask­ing for as a pre­requis­ite to vot­ing for any speak­er.

Re­pub­lic­an Policy Com­mit­tee Chair­man Luke Mess­er, who will helm the task force along with House Re­pub­lic­an Con­fer­ence Chair Cathy Mc­Mor­ris Rodgers and Ju­di­ciary Chair­man Bob Good­latte, said chan­ging lead­er­ship is only part of the solu­tion.

He said the con­fer­ence will not be sat­is­fied un­less lead­ers make changes to the way le­gis­la­tion is passed and how fac­tions in the con­fer­ence co­ex­ist: “We’ve got to re­cog­nize as a con­fer­ence that we’re es­sen­tially a co­ali­tion gov­ern­ment made up of cent­rist swing-state Re­pub­lic­ans, a gov­ern­ing con­ser­vat­ive middle, and the tea party, Free­dom Caucus on the right. Un­less we fig­ure out a way to make those three groups op­er­ate more co­her­ently, we’re go­ing to con­tin­ue to have troubles,” he said.

While Ry­an has re­buffed calls to enter the race thus far, a num­ber of oth­er names have emerged as po­ten­tial can­did­ates, in­clud­ing GOP Reps. Mike Con­away, Mar­sha Black­burn and Jeff Miller.

But the biggest ques­tion loom­ing over the GOP Fri­day was wheth­er Ry­an will suc­cumb to grow­ing calls from law­makers who seem him as the mem­ber most likely to win the 218 votes needed to take the speak­er’s gavel from the de­part­ing Boehner.

The pres­sure is in­tense. En­ergy and Com­merce Com­mit­tee Chair­man Fred Up­ton said al­though it is not an or­ches­trated ef­fort, mem­bers have been call­ing on Ry­an to run to the point where he has had to re­sort to drastic meas­ures to avoid them: Sit­ting next to fam­ously ill-tempered Rep. Jim Sensen­bren­ner of Wis­con­sin. 

“I talked to him on the floor as well yes­ter­day. I said, ‘Paul you’ve got to run.’ He said, ‘Well I’ve got to go sit next to Sensen­bren­ner.’ And part of that is Sensen­bren­ner is known to be such a grouch that he figured if he sat next to him no one would con­front him on the floor,” Up­ton said Fri­day af­ter­noon.

Rep. Jason Chaf­fetz, who has already got­ten in­to the Speak­er’s race, said he would yield to Ry­an if he changed his mind. “If Paul Ry­an got in­to the race, of course I would sup­port him,” he said Fri­day. “He would be the kind of per­son that I could get ex­cited about, but part of the reas­on that I got in­to the race is be­cause people like Paul Ry­an wer­en’t step­ping up to do it.” House Re­pub­lic­an Con­fer­ence Chair Cathy Mc­Mor­ris Rodgers said she would also like to see Ry­an run.

“I be­lieve Paul Ry­an is go­ing to go home, meet with his fam­ily over the week­end, be­cause people con­tin­ue to urge him, beg him, ca­jole him be­cause he is the con­sensus can­did­ate at this point,” said Rep. Dar­rell Issa after the House GOP meet­ing. Issa is also weigh­ing a run if the ef­fort to draft Ry­an fails.

But even if he does change his mind and run, Ry­an’s path wouldn’t ne­ces­sar­ily be easy.

Some con­ser­vat­ives—like Reps. Thomas Massie, Steve King, Justin Amash, and Louie Gohmert—are still back­ing Rep. Daniel Web­ster for the job, al­though some of that sup­port could pos­sibly change if Ry­an really is to join the race.

Rep. Jim Jordan—who leads the House Free­dom Caucus, which has en­dorsed Web­ster—said Fri­day, “We’ve en­dorsed Mr. Web­ster. Noth­ing’s changed.” Rep. Dav­id Sch­weikert said that while he thinks Paul Ry­an has the propensity to lead, “It’s not about the man; it is about the policies and pro­ced­ures.” Con­ser­vat­ives still want to see a speak­er can­did­ate who makes more prom­ises to chan­ging the way le­gis­la­tion is moved and voted on in the House of Rep­res­ent­at­ives.

The GOP con­fer­ence is in tu­mult just three weeks be­fore Boehner is slated to go. Rep. John Flem­ing, of Louisi­ana, said Boehner spoke briefly to the group at the meet­ing Fri­day morn­ing. “He just ba­sic­ally said he was go­ing to re­main speak­er un­til we get a new speak­er; he ex­pec­ted that by the end of the month,” Flem­ing said.

Rep. John Kline, of Min­nesota, and Rep. Can­dice Miller, of Michigan, both re­tir­ing at the end of this term, have each been floated as pos­sible place­hold­er can­did­ates for the speak­er­ship to give the con­fer­ence more time to settle on a con­sensus lead­er in 2016. Rep. Tom Cole sug­ges­ted Kline as an al­tern­at­ive to Ry­an Fri­day. Miller has already said she is not in­ter­ested.

As for Ry­an, he had more to say to re­port­ers about foot­ball than his polit­ic­al fu­ture in the House on Fri­day. “The Pack­ers are home and they are go­ing to beat the Rams,” Ry­an said. “And they are go­ing to cov­er the spread.”

Clare Foran contributed to this article.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.