Representative Ken Buck (R-Colo.), the House freshman class president, is the latest target for retribution by House Speaker John Boehner (shown with Obama). Boehner and his minions in the GOP leadership have been on a rampage, methodically punishing Republican members who dared to vote against Team Obama/Boehner/McConnell on Fast Track authority for ObamaTrade.
As we reported here last week, Boehner and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) booted GOP Reps. Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), Steve Pearce (N.M.) and Trent Franks (Ariz.) — all members of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) — from the whip team. Then it was Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who was stripped of his chairmanship of the House Oversight Government Operations subcommittee. Now, they’re after Rep. Buck.
“I voted against ObamaTrade,” Buck says. “Now they’re trying to impeach me as class president. Sure smells like retaliation.”
Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Monday in an interview on Laura Ingraham’s nationally syndicated radio show that many conservatives are “fed up” with Boehner’s iron-fisted rule. “So, Mark Meadows, a good man, a good friend, and what they did to him is exactly wrong, and there are a number of us who are fed up with it,” Representative Jordan told Ingraham’s audience.
Laura Ingraham was clearly not in the Boehner camp, comparing the Speaker to a mafia don. “This is what the mafia does,” she commented. “I’m sorry, but this is a political mafia on Capitol Hill.”
“I don’t see this as a Republican Party who represents people like me,” Ingraham continued.” And if they distance themselves from people like me, then I don’t see how [they’re] going to win the presidency.”
In a separate interview, Ingraham heard from Rep. Meadows, who said that the loss of his chairmanship was minor, in comparison to the larger issues involved. “This is about the voice of American people; they need to be heard,” Meadows stated. He said further, regarding Boehner’s rampage: “They wanted to continue to have a culture of fear of retribution and, yet, the speaker said he had learned his lesson and that he would be open to conservatives. Obviously that is not the case and so here we are today.”
“I think it was an action meant to try to humiliate or intimidate me, but I wear it as a badge of honor, standing firm for freedom for the American people,” Meadows told the Washington Examiner. “There is no honor in bowing to a bully. There is only fighting the good fight and whether you win or lose, I am willing to do my best to represent the people who elected me.”
Unlike the vast majority of his House Republican colleagues who blindly followed Boehner on Fast Track, Meadows said he read the bill. Meadows said 95 percent of his colleagues didn’t read the TPA. “I am one of the few that did,” Meadows said. “When you really look at it, this fast track had 150 suggestions. I say suggestions because they’re not mandates. The president could do anything he wanted to do, and the only person who can hold him accountable would have been Chairman Paul Ryan.”
TPA would allow the House Ways and Means Committee, which Ryan chairs, to vote on proposed changes to “fast-track” trade bills, but not the full Congress, noted Meadows. “It is giving away our constitutional abilities,” he charged. “I have a problem with that, and the American people have a problem with that.”
Buck Stands Fast, Boehner’s Lap Kittens Show Claws
Representative Buck told reporters today he was approached by a freshman colleague Tuesday night who claimed that a majority of freshmen wanted him to step down as president. “I said I was not going to resign, and he said, ‘Well, then we’re going to call a meeting,’” Buck recounted. A few hours later, a notice went out to chiefs of staff from Representatives Mimi Walters (R-Calif.) and Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), both of whom are close to Boehner and the GOP leadership, calling for an “important freshman class meeting” Thursday at 8:30 a.m.
“Mimi Walters is the freshmen representative to leadership and she’s decided to take this action,” Buck said. “Given the circumstances of a number of members being kicked off the whip team, and a member being removed from a subcommittee chair position, it is clear that leadership has decided there’s going to be retaliation.”
Photo of Speaker of the House John Boehner with President Obama: AP Images
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Mr. Congressman, READ the Secret ObamaTrade Bills BEFORE You Vote!
