Boehner
defends his U.S. House leadership amid conservative unrest
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[March 02, 2015]
By Diane Bartz
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fresh from an
embarrassing rebuke at the hands of conservatives in his own party, U.S.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner played down any risk to
his continuing leadership on Sunday, saying disagreements with fellow
Republicans were merely over strategy, not goals.
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Asked if he could lead the fractious House, Boehner said, "I think
so. I'm not going to suggest it's easy, because it’s not."
The House narrowly averted cutting off funds to the Department of
Homeland Security on Friday after Boehner failed to rein in
conservative Republicans. They were insisting on tying the issue to
blocking President Barack Obama's move to shield millions of illegal
immigrants from deportation.
"We do have some members who disagree from time to time over the
tactics that we decide to employ. But remember that Republicans are
united in this idea that the president has far exceeded his
constitutional authority," Boehner said in an interview on the CBS
program "Face the Nation."
Boehner narrowly won a third term as speaker on Jan. 6, surviving a
stiff challenge from 25 conservative Republicans that signaled a
possible growing split within the party as it assumed full control
of Congress. A faction of dissident House Republicans oppose him
because they say he has done too little to cut spending and fight
Obama's immigration and healthcare policies.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Mar/02/images/ads/current/ccaonline_sda050208.png) Boehner's failure to corral enough votes to fund the department for
three weeks - they settled for one week - again raised questions
over whether he could lead House Republicans.
Steve Scalise, the third-ranking House Republican, noted to the "Fox
News Sunday" program that the selection of a House speaker took
place "just a few weeks ago."
"And that vote is over. We are moving forward," Scalise said. "...
And obviously he's speaker. He's going forward."
Republican Peter King of New York, a prominent voice on national
security issues, called the lawmakers who voted against the homeland
security funding "absolutely irresponsible" and "self-righteous and
delusional."
King, who noted that three men were arrested in New York just days
ago for allegedly attempting to join the Islamic State militant
group, urged other House members to back Boehner.
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"We have to stand behind John Boehner," he told ABC's "This Week"
program.
But King said Boehner must find a way this week, after Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delivered a speech to Congress on
Tuesday, to bring a "clean" homeland security funding bill without
the immigration language to the House floor for an up-or-down vote.
Asked on the CNN program "State of the Union" about a possible
attempt to depose Boehner, outspoken House conservative Jim Jordan,
like Boehner from Ohio, said "that's not going to happen."
Boehner said "the House is a rambunctious place" but that he enjoyed
his job "most days." He said that Friday - when the House failed to
pass the three-week funding measure - was "messy."
"I’m not into messy. But listen, I enjoy being in a legislative
body. I enjoy all the personalities, and I’ve got a lot of them," he
said.
(Additional reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Frances Kerry and
Ralph Boulton)
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