Dear Dr. Hammett: Thank you for contacting me about Speaker of the House John Boehner. I appreciate hearing your views on the issue. As you may know, one of the first votes each Congress is the election of the Speaker of the House. As the individual third in line to the presidency and the head of the entire U.S. House of Representatives, this is an important vote and one I do not take lightly. On January 6, 2015, at the start of the 114th Congress, a roll call vote will be held to determine the Speaker for the coming years. The two candidates nominated by their parties in November of 2014 were former Speaker and current House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and current Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). When returning House Republican Members and incoming Members-Elect held leadership elections in November, not a single Republican challenged Speaker Boehner for the nomination, and he was nominated unanimously. This process for nominating a Speaker should be familiar to us here in Virginia. As you know, when Virginians nominate their candidates for public office in a primary, firehouse primary, or convention, voters pledge to support the eventual nominee no matter whether their preferred candidate is successful or not. Similarly, the House Republican Conference voted unanimously to support John Boehner for Speaker of the House during its primary in November, and Members should abide by that decision on January 6th and support the candidate endorsed by our Conference. As was voted by the entire Republican Conference back in November, John Boehner was the uncontested nominee of House Republicans, and I plan to vote for John Boehner on January 6th for House Speaker, not Nancy Pelosi. Had other candidates stepped forward to seek the Republican Conference nomination, I would have carefully considered the qualifications of each of the candidates. However, since no one stepped forward, those are the two choices facing the House of Representatives. To further explain this process, I wanted to bring your attention to a recent editorial from a fellow Virginian, Brian Schoeneman, who explained the process for nominating candidates for Speaker. You can read his entire editorial at tinyurl/osecsyr. I appreciate you taking the time to contact me. I feel it is important to keep an open line of communication so I can best serve the interests of Virginias 6th District. I hope you will continue to be in touch as the 114th Congress debates issues of importance to the United States. Again, thanks for the benefit of your comments. Please feel free to contact me whenever I may be of assistance. With kind regards. Sincerely, Bob Goodlatte Member of Congress
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 19:15:38 +0000
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