McCarthy hangs tough against threats by GOP’s ‘fed-up five’ to derail his bid for House speaker
Brianna Sacks | USA TODAY
House Speaker Paul Ryan says a “fed-up five” would be enough to derail his attempt to take over the gavel as speaker of the House following a year in which the GOP lost control of the chamber for a second day in a row.
A dozen House Republicans, led by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said they are prepared to oppose Ryan’s bid in a so-called “C-plus” letter to Speaker John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year’s primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE, R-Ohio, telling the speaker to “listen to your members.”
“If you continue with your plan, I will be voting against you,” Boehner told Ryan Wednesday.
“I respect my colleagues and they hold my highest values in the highest regard,” Boehner told Ryan, according to a statement by Ryan’s spokeswoman Emily Loesch. “But we are all frustrated by the lack of progress with our budget.”
Loesch added that Ryan “will continue to lead in an aggressive pursuit of deficit reduction.”
Ryan has said that he had no intention of challenging Boehner when the speaker asked him to run for speaker in early April. Ryan told reporters on Wednesday that he thought it was a good thing that Boehner had already decided on his choice.
Boehner “was not interested in me because I didn’t think I had the kind of leadership experience necessary for the job,” he said. Ryan also told reporters that he did not think he would be able to win support in his new position in November.
But Republicans were unimpressed.
“Speaker Ryan, the man who told you that you have to have the votes to become Speaker, is now publicly telling you to listen to your own members in order to win back the support of your conference,” Massie said. “It is past time.
