Described as the biggest revolt against a sitting Speaker of the House in more than 100 years, 25 House Republicans voted against House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio as the Republican Party leader in the 114th Congress.
The election was not without mystery, mischief and reason following the swearing in of the 114th Congress on January 6. In a behind the scenes drama that played out on Tuesday, Boehner opponents attempted to get to the magic number of 26 votes to deny the Speaker’s re-election on the first vote.
Writing in The Daily Caller, Alex Pappas reports:
“Prior to the vote, at least 15 disaffected conservative House Republicans publicly said they would oppose Boehner. Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert and Florida Rep. Ted Yoho both offered themselves as alternative candidates for speaker, hoping to draw votes away from Boehner. Florida Rep. Daniel Webster was also nominated before the vote, garnering a surprising 12 votes.”
The struggle for a no-confidence vote was heightened by a flood of phone calls that lit up and overwhelmed the capitol switchboard – calls from voters demanding that Republicans in the House – particularly those new members elected last November – support a speaker candidate other than Boehner.
Callers to the The Shawn Hannity Show clouded the spontaneous grassroots reaction in mystery. Callers reported reaching their republican representatives only to be told that Boehner was the only candidate for speaker (not true) or that the rules of the previous Congress locked in Boehner as Speaker prior to their taking office (also untrue).
The fresh effort to oust the sitting speaker was sparked in part by Speaker Boehner’s inexplicable but successful effort to push through the $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year in September.
This was a deal he cut with then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Barack Obama in the lame-duck session of the 103rd Congress.
The deal effectively robbed the new Republican run 114th Congress of the leverage it would have needed to defund ObamaCare, stop Illegal Immigrant Amnesty and repeal other “pen and phone” initiatives undertaken by the President in the closing months of 2014.
In the end, Boehner won the Speakership by a razor thin majority of 216 votes out of 408 votes cast.
In the wake of the vote – and despite promising not to do so – Speaker Boehner began to settle scores with dissidents within the Republican caucus. Most notably, Speaker Boehner removed Florida Reps. Daniel Webster and Richard Nugent from the powerful Rules Committee – the committee that sets guidelines for debate, votes and the scheduling of legislation on the House floor.
Here’s the full list of dissenting Republican representaives:
1. Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI)
2. Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX)
3. Rep. Rod Blum (R-IA)
4. Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA)
5. Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK)
6. Rep. Curt Clawson (T-FL)
7. Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN)
8. Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC)
9. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ)
10. Rep. Chris Gibson (R-NY)
11. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ)
12. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
13. Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS)
14. Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC)
15. Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
16. Rep. Tom Massie (R-KY)
17. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC)
18. Rep. Rich Nugent (R-FL)
19. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL)
20. Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL)
21. Rep. Scott Rigell (R-VA)
22. Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN)
23. Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX)
24. Rep. Dan Webster (R-FL)
25. Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL)
