Conservatives Call For Boehner To Step Down

Fired up by the ousting of Justin Amash, conservatives are calling for John Boehner to be replaced as speaker of the house.

Several Republicans hinted that they won’t vote to re-elect him to run the chamber, and a conservative interest group announced a bid to recruit someone else to run against him for the speakership.

Mr. Boehner, an Ohio Republican, is not in any danger yet — the rebellion shows no signs of reaching beyond a small group of dissatisfied lawmakers — but it could complicate his efforts to strike a deal with President Obama to head off the looming “fiscal cliff” that will send tax rates soaring and will impose automatic spending cuts early next month.

American Majority Action, a conservative interest group, on Monday endorsed Rep. Tom Price and two other Republicans who they said should replace Boehner and his top lieutenants, and has launched a lobbying push to try to sway rank-and-file members to withhold their votes from Boehner.

Price won’t challenge Boehner, a spokesman said.

But lawmakers can vote for anyone when the House members cast ballots Jan. 3 for the next speaker, and if Republican members vote for someone other than Boehner.

Justin Amash Speaks Out:

Thanks to those of you at home for speaking out—not for me, but for yourselves. I'm proud and honored to represent the vast majority of Americans who believe that Members of Congress need to work together to balance the budget.

We will no longer sit silently while political insiders and corporate lobbyists saddle our children and grandchildren with an insurmountable debt. It's time for Republican leadership to show us the vote scorecard they used to determine committee assignments—a scoring system that docks a person for fiscal responsibility.

Only in Washington, DC, is a person taken off of the Budget Committee for wanting to balance the budget.