Is Cantor Getting Ready To Take On Boehner?
There has been a lot of speculation that John Boehner’s job as Speaker could be in jeopardy. Now Breitbart is reporting that could very well happen: American Majority Action spokesman Ron Meyer told Breitbart News late Tuesday that enough House Republicans have banded together in an effort to unseat House Speaker John Boehner from his […]
There has been a lot of speculation that John Boehner’s job as Speaker could be in jeopardy. Now Breitbart is reporting that could very well happen:
American Majority Action spokesman Ron Meyer told Breitbart News late Tuesday that enough House Republicans have banded together in an effort to unseat House Speaker John Boehner from his position–they just need a leader to take up the mantle.
“At least 20 House Republican members have gotten together, discussed this and want to unseat Speaker Boehner–and are willing to do what it takes to do it,” Meyer said. “That’s more than enough to get the job done, but the one problem these guys face is they need a leader to coalesce behind.”
The name being floated is Eric Cantor. That might seem like a long shot, but look at the vote last night on the fiscal cliff bill:
Republican House Speaker John Boehner voted in favor of the deal, as did House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, his party’s failed vice presidential candidate. But Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy voted against it.
So there’s a big rift in House leadership right now. On top of that the vote break down on the Republican side was 85 voting for the bill and 151 voting against it. That could be enough to really make things interesting.
Of course many of those 151 wouldn’t want Boehner to be voted out, simply because it would show a massive fracture in GOP loyalty. This is where the Democrats can now have some fun. For the speaker to be voted in, they must get 50% + 1 votes of the entire House. If enough Republicans are willing to go for Cantor then the Democrats could go ahead and put up someone like Nancy Pelosi and vote for her, preventing the Boehner or Cantor from getting the needed majority vote. This hasn’t happened in 80 years, but is a very real possibility this year.
So keep an eye on Congress this week. We could end up seeing some very serious drama unfold and the Democrats now have a big upper-hand in making the GOP look really fractured. That will be fun!
