U.S.
House conservative files motion to oust Speaker Boehner
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[July 29, 2015]
By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A conservative
member of the U.S. House of Representatives filed a motion on Tuesday to
try to oust fellow Republican John Boehner from his leadership position,
saying he was tired of a "punitive culture" against dissidents in the
lawmaking body.
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It is unlikely the motion by Representative Mark Meadows to remove
Boehner as Speaker of the House will pass or even come to a vote,
but it highlights the friction within the Republican Party ahead of
a presidential election in 2016.
Meadows is a second-term lawmaker from North Carolina and a member
of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservatives who often are
at odds with Boehner. Recently they have disagreed on whether the
Export-Import Bank, a government export credit agency, should be
continued. Conservatives are trying to kill the bank; Boehner
supports it.
Recently a committee chairman, presumably acting on orders of
Boehner, stripped Meadows of his subcommittee chairmanship after
Meadows and a number of other conservatives voted against a
procedural motion during a heated trade debate in June.
Meadow's gavel was returned to him, reportedly after other members
of the committee protested.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jul/29/images/ads/current/brickey_lda_061314.png) There was no comment from Boehner's office on Tuesday evening.
"Every member of Congress should have the ability to have their
voice and their vote heard without fear of retribution if indeed
they are representing the people back home," Meadows said.
Meadows' motion said the Speaker has "caused the power of Congress
to atrophy" through inaction and "uses the power of the office to
punish members who vote according to their conscience instead of the
will of the Speaker."
In January, Boehner was re-elected to his third term as Speaker
after surviving a challenge from 25 conservative Republicans in the
biggest such intra-party rebellion against a Speaker candidate in
over a century.
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Meadow's challenge to Boehner comes as Senate Republican leader
Mitch McConnell also is under attack from conservatives within the
Republican Party. Last week, Senator Ted Cruz, who is running for
president, accused McConnell of lying to him and other Republicans
about the leader’s plans for holding a vote on the reauthorization
of the Export-Import Bank.
Some conservatives in the House spoke about Meadow's motion in
favorable terms on Tuesday, while other members derided it as a
publicity stunt.
"I guess some people can't get enough attention," said
Representative Carlos Curbelo, a freshman representative from
Florida, said as he left the Capitol on Tuesday.
Republican Representative Peter King expressed concern that public
debate over the August recess would be focused on Meadows' motion
instead of what King said should be the focus: the Iran nuclear
deal.
But Representative Justin Amash, a member of the Freedom Caucus,
spoke approvingly of Meadows' action, saying: "I've talked about the
need for new leadership for a long time .. People at home want us to
take a new direction."
(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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