The Herald: Before Resigning, Boehner Met with Mulvaney, Other GOP Conservatives

BY DON WORTHINGTON
dworthington@heraldonline.com

U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., and four other conservative congressmen met with House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday, telling the Ohio Republican they had lost confidence in his leadership and that they would fight to remove him as speaker.

On Friday, Boehner announced he will resign at the end of October, ending 25 years of congressional service.

Mulvaney, the 5th Congressional District representative from Indian Land, said Friday the group did not ask for Boehner to step down as House speaker or resign and that his resignation “came as a complete surprise.”

“I have sympathy for John,” Mulvaney told The Herald by phone from Washington, D.C. “He’s a good man, and he was a hero in conservative circles for his hard line on earmarks.”

But, Mulvaney stressed, Boehner was no longer effective and “had ceased to be a leader.”

“This was a principles disagreement, not personal,” said Mulvaney, whose congressional district includes York, Chester and Lancaster counties.

But Boehner’s leadership was a “business-as-usual” style that was rooted in the 1990s, Mulvaney said.

Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., “has some of the same shortcomings,” Mulvaney said, predicting the conversatives’ problems with Boehner could arise in the Senate.

Mulvaney said Boehner requested Thursday’s meeting with the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative Republicans. Joining Mulvaney were Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, Rep. Reid Ribble of Wisconsin and Rep. Matt Salmon of Arizona. Mulvaney, Jordan, Labrador and Salmon are four of the nine founders of the caucus.

They met with Boehner to discuss defunding of Planned Parenthood, a priority of the caucus.

Boehner had been working on an alternative plan to avoid a government shutdown, but to allow a separate vote on defunding Planned Parenthood. The separate measure was not expected to pass in the House or Senate and, if it did, it would have faced a presidential veto.

When Boehner balked at defunding Planned Parenthood the discussion moved to his leadership, Mulvaney said.

“We told him we were disappointed, frustrated and angry,” Mulvaney said. “John didn’t hear what we were saying.”

They told the House speaker they would push for a leadership vote that has been pending for several months, Mulvaney said.

While the Freedom Caucus doesn’t control enough votes to oust the speaker, Mulvaney said it would have taken votes from Democrats to keep Boehner as the speaker.

Mulvaney said he had lost confidence in Boehner because he was reluctant to use “the power of purse.”

“That is a fatal flaw,” Mulvaney continued. “He was giving up the only (negotiating) tool that we have.”

By Boehner’s not being aggressive on funding, Congress was becoming weaker and weaker to the point that “Congress is almost irrelevant,” Mulvaney said. Instead of a checks-and-balance system of government the power has shifted to the president and executive branch, Mulvaney said.

Mulvaney said he was not interested in becoming House speaker and that the Freedom Caucus lacks the votes to elect a speaker. He said the caucus wants someone as speaker that “represents our priorities.”

In a statement released Friday, Mulvaney said, “Many people asked me today if this was a victory for the conservative movement. I do not see this as a victory for anyone. I see this as a necessary step toward re-establishing the proper constitutional function of the Congress. Re-empowering Congress has been a goal of the House Freedom Caucus since its inception.

“The way for conservatives to make an impact is to coalesce and stick together. We know we are outnumbered. I look forward to working with the next Speaker to continue moving our conference a little further to the right,” Mulvaney said.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California is generally considered the front-runner for the speaker’s post.

McClatchy’s Washington bureau contributed

Don Worthington: 803-329-4066, @rhherald_donw

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