Boehner-vs.-Freedom-Caucus Battle Escalates

nationaljournal.com ^ | 6/24/15 | Daniel Newhauser

[cotton1706]

June 24, 2015 House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday endorsed one of his chairmen stripping another member of his subcommittee chairmanship for voting against a procedural motion, the latest and most high-profile jab in the battle between GOP leaders and far-right conservatives.

Boehner told a private meeting of House Republicans that Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz made the right decision when he demoted Rep. Mark Meadows last week after Meadows joined 33 other Republicans in voting against a rule governing debate on trade legislation the week before.

"We have the majority, and when it comes to procedural votes in the House, the majority has to stick together and vote for or against, whatever the case may be, those procedural motions," Boehner told reporters after the meeting, paraphrasing his remarks behind closed doors. "The chairman made the right decision, and I told my members I supported that decision."

Other members in the meeting spoke up to defend Boehner and Chaffetz's position, including Education Committee Chairman John Kline and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who both said that members who vote against rules are not being team players. But the speaker did not go unchallenged, according to sources in the room.

Rep. Jim Jordan, leader of the House Freedom Caucus, which was responsible for organizing the rebellion against the trade rule, spoke up to defend the 34 Republicans who voted against the rule. He said the rule was a vote of conscience because it inserted rules for debate for the trade measure into a rule governing debate on a separate issue, and therefore should not have been treated like every other rule. Rep. Morgan Griffith, another member who voted against the rule, made similar remarks.

[upchuck]

Excellent!