Are John Boehner’s Days in Congress Numbered?

“TALK TOUGH, PRETEND TO FIGHT”

by Sharon Rondeau

(Mar. 10, 2015) — In a Tuesday evening email titled “How Does Speaker Boehner Still Have His Job?” former 2014 primary contender against Speaker of the House John Boehner, J.D. Winteregg, stated of Boehner:

He’s done it again.

After promising to fight “tooth and nail”, House Speaker John Boehner has caved and voted for a “clean” bill that funds the DHS and Obama’s unconstitutional executive amnesty scheme.  While this falls in line with the Speaker’s modus operandi (talk tough, pretend to fight, cave, blame, play golf with Obama), I am absolutely fed up with his nonsense…

In his message, Winteregg stated that he “primaried Speaker Boehner as a first-time candidate for any office” and that he found the experience, although unsuccessful in its aim, “amazing” and “humbling.”  Winteregg added that he originally had no plans to seek Boehner’s seat representing the Eighth District of Ohio in 2016, but that “Mr. Boehner’s repeated acquiescence to the Far Left has prompted me to to give serious consideration to another run in the 2016 Republican Primary.”

Winteregg was one of three challengers to Boehner in last May’s primary and gleaned 15% of the vote, with Boehner defeating him 74% to 15%.

Boehner has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1991.

A link from the email led to a website which a Winteregg campaign committee appears to be building where interested parties can register to receive notification of his “launch.”  On his Facebook page, an entry dated March 6 states, “JD is seriously considering another run against John Boehner…but, having been through this before, he understands that running successfully against a sitting House Speaker with millions in the bank will take a lot of money, a lot of volunteers, a great campaign team, a new and improved website, some cutting-edge digital strategies and a whole lot more. If you want JD to run, comment below, sign up for updates and, most importantly, make a donation. If he runs, he intends to win…but he can’t win without YOU. –“

Many Americans are angry at Boehner for agreeing to remove five amendments to a DHS funding bill last week which prohibited the enactment of Obama’s announced executive actions to allow millions of illegal aliens to remain in the country when they would normally face deportation according to federal law.  Despite a Republican majority in both chambers of Congress, Boehner’s action satisfied Democrats and one Republican in the Senate, who had blocked debate on the House’s bill which included the amendments.

Boehner had vowed to block Obama’s “amnesty” before sending HR 240, along with the five amendments, to the Senate after its passage in the House on January 14.  Opponents of Obama’s plan applauded Boehner’s speech at the time in which he said, in part:

Let me thank all my colleagues who have worked to put this bill together. Today I rise – and the House rises – to support and defend our Constitution.

We do not take this action lightly, but simply there is no alternative. This is not a dispute between the parties, or even between the branches of our government. This executive overreach is an affront to the rule of law and to the Constitution itself.

I appreciate all the efforts of those working to fix our broken immigration system, especially since I’m one of them. But what we are dealing with is a president who has ignored the people, has ignored the Constitution, and even his own past statements.

In fact, on at least 22 occasions, he said he did not have the authority to do what he has done.

To think that the president of the United States studied constitutional law is one thing …. he taught it as well. But now his actions suggest he’s forgotten what these words even mean.

Enough is enough. By their votes last November, the people made clear they want more accountability from this president. And by our votes here today, we will heed their will, and we will keep our oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.

Fifty-two Republicans in the House voted against Boehner’s proposal.

On Tuesday, Politico reported that Boehner asked former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D) to garner support for the “clean” DHS funding bill which also included support for Amtrak.

Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert criticized Boehner for breaking the rule named after Hastert which prohibited a vote on any bill “without the support of a majority of his or her party’s members in the House.”

Both Hastert and Pelosi reportedly violated the Hastert rule during their respective terms as Speaker.

Boehner describes himself as “a leader focused on listening to the American people.”