Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Historically, this is a new one for the House of Representatives. Literally.
In a move unprecedented in the history of the House of Representatives, a Republican lawmaker filed a motion Tuesday to remove House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, from his post, in another sign of dissatisfaction with Boehner’s leadership by a number of House conservatives. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., filed the resolution — a “motion to vacate the chair” — late Tuesday, claiming that he “has endeavored to consolidate power and centralize decision-making, bypassing the majority of the 435 Members of Congress and the people they represent.”
The proposal was referred to a committee stocked with leadership loyalists, and therefore unlikely to emerge. The motion says that Boehner has caused the power of Congress to atrophy, “thereby making Congress subservient to the Executive and Judicial branches, diminishing the voice of the American People.”
The motion also claims that Boehner has used the power of his office to “punish Members who vote according to their conscience instead of the will of the Speaker.”
There’s no doubt that Speaker Boehner has sold out conservatives time and time again during his tenure in GOP leadership, including: debt ceiling increases, spending increases, kicking conservatives off their committee positions for voting out of line with party leadership, and numerous tax increases. The GOP took control of the House and Senate for the first time since 2006, and has been nothing but embarrassingly submissive to the Executive Branch ever since.
Whether or not the motion gains momentum, this is a very gutsy move for Rep. Meadows, and proof that there is a growing caucus within the House GOP that is not intellectually beholden to the political whims of GOP leadership.
