The backlash against Speaker of the House John Boehner’s removal of several conservative members of Congress from committees continued Wednesday, with one conservative group calling for Republicans to “depose” Boehner from his speakership.
American Majority Action (AMA) is launching a #FireBoehner campaign. If 16 members of the Republican Party abstain from voting for Boehner as speaker in January, he will be one vote shy of the 218 necessary to confirm his speakership.
“Speaker Boehner has been an abysmal failure as speaker, and his latest purge is the nail in the coffin for conservatives,” said Ned Ryun, president and CEO of AMA. “Boehner has never won a negation [sic] battle with the White House or Senate — and he’s been nothing short of an embarrassing spokesman for the conservative movement. It’s time for him to go.”
The recent anger stems in large part from the removal of Reps. David Schweikert, Justin Amash and Tim Huelskamp from their spots on committees. Boehner has said it was an issue of loyalty, Buzzfeed reported, but conservatives have labeled it a purge of more conservative and libertarian elements of the party. (RELATED: Purged conservative reps: Boehner planning to ‘run over’ conservatives, vote for tax hike)
“We only need 16 votes to get conservatives on the path to actually reducing our $16 trillion debt,” AMA Virginia Director Matt Robbins said. “If conservatives want to tackle our biggest challenges, we need competent leaders — and frankly — new leaders.”
Ron Meyer, press secretary for AMA, said that the group likes Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the outgoing chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, to replace Boehner, though he noted that “there aren’t enough votes to elect someone new — yet.” (RELATED: Amash slams GOP leadership for purging him without notice)
But removing him from the speakership, Myer said, is “doable for sure.”
A Boehner spokesman did not respond to request for comment.