You don’t always find 100% agreement in politics. That said, there was really only one serious Republican candidate running for Speaker of the House. I may not always agree with John Boehner’s strategy, and I have voted against a number of issues put forward such as debt ceiling increases and the CR Omnibus. With respect to the others running, none have made the type of effort to make a credible run. When newly elected Republicans convened in late November to select leadership, no one challenged them or even spoke in opposition. One doesn’t just jump in at the last minute to run for an important position such as Speaker of the House. Nor should they expect to receive votes from colleagues without contacting them or making their case. (One of the favorites I was encouraged by some of the public to support chose not to run and himself abstained, and another frequently mentioned candidate received 3 votes.) Much of the anti-Boehner hype is driven by a press, hostile to Republicans, that seeks to create dissension among our ranks (especially given the strong victory in November that made the largest House Republican majority since 1928). The press, White House, and until now, the Senate, have been outright hostile to our conservative principles. We even have conservative outside groups that use this hype to whip people up, and then fundraise off of it in the ideal that pitting us against each other will somehow achieve conservative purity…overnight. The Republican Majority has great value. It has helped us to blunt an Obama agenda that had momentum upon the President’s 2nd inauguration. We’ve tied up much bad policy and he has since been forced to switch to using unconstitutional memorandums and executive orders to enact his policies …and he has been losing those in court on their unconstitutionality. Speaker Boehner has led and encouraged that fight. Those fighting words are what I hear in our conference meetings and are released, but underreported, by the press. Since Republicans took over the House and Boehner the speakership, we have cut federal spending by over $100 billion; the only true decrease in federal spending since just after World War Two. We successfully cut EPA funding back to 1999 levels, eliminating 2,000 EPA bureaucrats. We drastically reduced funding for the IRS and forced it to stop attacking groups for political reasons. And finally, the Speaker led our party to through two elections to achieve the largest Republican majority in over eighty years. Those victories put us in a far stronger position to fight the President’s big-government policies. I adhere to what I tell my constituents I will do, and use the best tools available to make those decisions and inform you. It took many years, and much apathy by the general public to allow what has happened to our country. It will take much effort over time and a continued momentum to push it back. I will keep on fighting for those values and principles that I always have: balancing the budget and finally stopping debt increases, honoring our veterans and law enforcement, water and infrastructure our state and national needs, as well as a foreign policy that gives confidence to our allies and shows strength in a dangerous world. The House will continue to press even more on these issues. Combined with a productive Senate, Congress will put these ideas on the Presidents desk, on the record, and in view of the American public. I look forward a fast start to what will be a very productive 114th Congress. That end product will be the criteria we ought to be judged by, not hype.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 02:08:25 +0000
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