Associated Press
Tom Price is looking over John Boehner's shoulder.
Just last week, the New York Times reported that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is "enjoying the broadest support of his tumultuous" tenure, and benefits from "the strong embrace from a broad spectrum of the rank and file."
Well, maybe. National Journal notes that some conservative activists are "launching an all-out effort aimed at about 100 House Republicans to see if it can find at least 17 of them angry enough, and bold enough, to block Boehner's reelection when the new Congress commences on Jan. 3." The Week also reported that Boehner's gavel is at risk if ongoing debt-reduction talks go poorly.
And this morning, National Review pointed to a possible challenger to Boehner from his own conference.
Should a debt deal go sour, the buzz is that Tom Price, a 58-year-old physician from Georgia, may challenge John Boehner for the speaker's gavel.
"Price is the person we're all watching," says an aide close to House leadership. "We know he's frustrated, but we don't know much else."
In an interview with National Review Online, Price won't speculate about his future, but he acknowledges his growing uneasiness. "My concern is that within our conference, conservatives, who are a majority, don't have a proper platform," he says. "That's true at the leadership table and on the steering committee."
If Price's name sounds familiar, there's a good reason -- the Georgia Republican sought the #4 slot in the House Republican leadership a few weeks ago, and had Paul Ryan's backing, but Boehner supported Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), who got the gig.
And while it still seems far-fetched that Boehner would lose his position, and all of this scuttlebutt may soon fade, it's also hard not to notice the Speaker's recent missteps.
Boehner's decision to punish four conservative House members for their lack of loyalty, for example, proved to be very controversial in GOP circles, and it was Boehner who oversaw the p.r. disaster of picking 19 middle-aged white guys for 19 House committee chairmanships.
The result is GOP discontent. From the National Review piece:
As he plots his next step, Price, a former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, is conferring with backbenchers about their grievances. Some of them are angry with Boehner, following a decision by House leaders last week to remove four conservatives from their committees. Boehner said the move was not an ideological rebuke, but it caused trouble nonetheless.
"Tom has spoken with me about his concerns," says a veteran House Republican. "He says he doesn't want conservatives to get burned." A second House Republican, who was elected in 2010, says Price is slowly building an informal coalition and chatting frequently with a tight circle of conservative members. In recent days, Price has also huddled with Grover Norquist, the anti-tax activist, at Norquist's office.
What's more, when Boehner offered Price a ceremonial post in exchange for his pledge of support, Price declined.
For the record, the smart money says Boehner keeps the Speaker's gavel, and with three weeks to go, he has no announced Republican rival. But Democrats made gains this year, and it would only take 17 House GOP members to make the Speaker's race a lot more interesting. It's a story worth watching.
Update: As of this afternoon, Price's office says the congressman "is not" running for House Speaker.
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Let the Study Committe take over the caucus, at least they are more honest and up front about wrecking the economy for political gain. Boehner and his tap dance between the factions is terrible.
"Boehner's gavel" sounds like a CAPTCHA phrase.
^Lolz, I don't miss Craptcha, that's for certain!
If I was Boehner, I would NEVER let Eric Cantor stand behind me.
The look on Boehner's face on TV is the look of a man who's on the brink of drinking his own poison. The plan that seems to be brewing in the background appears to be to allow Boehner to become their sacrificial lamb as a part of the internal deal-making within the caucus. Obama gets his barely-bipartisan budget, and conservatives who have not departed the Norquist boat can happily twiddle their thumbs and no-vote it into law.
Let the president have his way on taxes, and blame Boehner and the other pro-voting Republicans as the ones who gave away too much, and then prep for to take the upper hand on the debt ceiling discussion. Whether or not Boehner gets to keep his job depends on his ability to negotiate with his own people. Even if that, he's wide open and vulnerable in his caucus' primaries for not getting a better deal than whatever turns out.
If the past decade has been anything to go by, they've learned to eat their wounded. With a surprising lack of vulnerable Democrats this election cycle and a failing attempt to create an opening with Susan Rice, there is going to be some interesting turmoil within the ranks while they get ready to point fingers at what remains of moderate conservatism as their next meal, and hope their more conservative members don't say anything near recording devices.
Wow, not a particularly encouraging sign of solidarity in the Repubnican't party.
Not that I am sympathetic, it is going to be hard to conceal their disarray and working together is impossible. The TP thinks they can force everyone to their positions. Well, they did get all "strapped" for some rallies. They are waving a virtual gun in Boehner's face.
I kind of like the idea of Price becoming the Speaker of the House. Consider the optics of the situation when a black president is smacking around this white southern conservative during the next hostage situation. The humiliation for Price and the rest of the southern Republicans will be one for the history books.
I keep hearing about invoking the Fourteenth Amendment. Which part exactly? Is it the part about the debt or the part about Congressmen and Senators taking part in an insurrection. Seems like either one could be used.
its the part about the debt. Full faith and credit ... essentially the reasoning is that the whole debt limit law is unconstitional.
Tom Price, living proof that when my ancestors went hiking through Georgia in 1864, they let the place off easy, that he had ancestors who managed to live to procreate. This guy is a full-on Confederate, no "neo" about him.
Neo Confederate?
Thats a scary thought.
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When Bohner got the position I listened to his slurred speech and saw his propensity to weep at anything, even at the thought of dropping a hat, and believed Bohner was put in place to be used as a scapegoat, to be sacrificed as needed.
I think the time is coming.
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That sounds like it's much too personal a matter for me to comment on.
Better question to me is can the Democrats find a leader that enough moderate GOPs can back ?
If the Republicans are willing to destroy America's economy then all the ones that let it happen should be brought up on treason ! If am comprehending our Constitution correctly they are committing a treasonous act ! The Constitution is the foundation of our country to let the republicans get away with it would in itself be treason and should not be allowed to happen!!!!
This would be the case, but the people who have written the rules for nearly 200 years have yet to write in anything to enforce legal persecution for political malfeasance or what is becoming known as 'political terrorism'.
And for that, we are now seeing nuggets of quote-unquote 'conservative' politicians who's only motivation is to see the federal government die of seizure, and there is no recourse that won't be handily waved about as a part of the growing partisan warfare landscape.