Breitbart: NC Congressman Launches Mission To Fix Broken Congress

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MORGANTON, North Carolina — Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)’s worst nightmare is on the rise here in rural North Carolina. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) is gaining steam as a clearly coordinated, highly orchestrated effort to remove Boehner as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives—and fix a broken Congress that no longer represents the wishes of the American people—comes into much clearer focus.
Meadows invited Breitbart News to accompany him on a district visit, and the concerns he discussed with his constituents offer a microcosm of the issues America wants Congress to address. Everyone here agrees: John Boehner needs to go as Speaker of the House, and Mark Meadows is doing something about that.
Unlike some others from the more conservative side of the House GOP conference, Meadows is calm, cool and collected. He doesn’t make headline-grabbing comments, and is a serious, well-connected and well-respected member of the conference. Despite clear efforts by leadership—Boehner’s office and its allies, including Chief Deputy Whip Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) who represents the district bordering Meadows’ here—to isolate him, Meadows’ credibility in the House GOP conference only seems to grow by the minute thanks to his steady demeanor and well-intentioned aim to steer Congress back onto a track that more effectively represents America’s views in Washington.
Meadows, one of 24 members who at the beginning of this Congress voted for a Republican alternative to Boehner alongside one—Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) who voted “present,” which was technically a meaningless vote—believes it’s safe to assume that that 25 members will vote once again to remove Boehner as Speaker of the House should he bring his motion to vacate the chair up as a privileged resolution in the fall. At least three more—Reps. Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID), Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), and Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) —have publicly pledged they will join him. Several more, including major power player conservatives, have behind the scenes promised they will not support Boehner’s re-election as Speaker.
Meadows is not putting himself forward as a candidate to challenge Boehner for the speakership, but he is spearheading the process to replace Boehner—serving as its public face. The process goes something like this: Meadows will, or anyone else might, offer as a privileged resolution a motion to vacate the chair of the House. That means there would be an automatic vote where Boehner would need to rally support to either get re-elected or lose re-election. If every member of the House is present and votes, then the benchmark for Boehner to lose re-election is that 29 Republicans must vote to get rid of him—assuming no Democrats vote for Boehner.
With 28 now publicly opposed to his re-election, as many more are privately opposed to his re-election, it looks more and more likely that if such a vote came up—Meadows or any other member could force it within two days of offering the motion as a privileged resolution—Boehner would not be re-elected without help from the Democratic Party. If Boehner loses re-election, then the House will go into a briefly chaotic process of finding a new Speaker before more official business can be conducted. That person could be any citizen of the United States, but more likely than not will be a different member of the House than Boehner.
“It’s hard to tell exactly what will happen,” Meadows told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview in his campaign office in nearby Lenoir, North Carolina. “I’m a firm believer, based on just private conversations that I had, that if that vote [to remove Boehner as Speaker of the House] happened today that it would require Democrats to keep Speaker Boehner in as Speaker, meaning that there would be more than 30 Republicans that would find it very difficult to vote for the current Speaker. In order for that to be successful though—because obviously there will be some Democrats that will get released, we have seen it on some votes and other votes that the Speaker has been able to get Democrats to come across to support him on different position—this has to be something that grows across the country. This can’t be just Mark Meadows-driven, or Mick Mulvaney-driven, or any of the others. It has to continue to grow. Now I know that it is growing. I also know that there are a number of people that voted for the Speaker that still have to answer for that when they go back home.”
-Read more: http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/09/05/exclusive-behind-the-scenes-with-john-boehners-worst-nightmare-mark-meadows-launches-mission-to-fix-broken-congress/
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