Washington (CNN)At least two conservative hard-liners are now offering themselves up as candidates to unseat House Speaker John Boehner.
Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Florida, said this weekend that he won't support Boehner as speaker when lawmakers vote Tuesday, and offered himself up as an alternative. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, did the same thing on Fox News' "Fox and Friends Sunday."
"Well, we have heard from a lot of Republicans that, 'Gee, I would vote for somebody besides Speaker Boehner but nobody will put their name out there as running so there's nobody else to vote for,'" Gohmert said.
"Well that changed yesterday when my friend Ted Yoho said 'I'm putting my name out there. I'll be a candidate for speaker,'" he said. "And I'm putting my name out there also, today, to be another candidate for speaker. All people are welcome, unlike what some of the establishment people are saying."
His comments come as conservatives simmer over a 10-month government funding measure that both Boehner and President Barack Obama backed in December. Conservatives saw that measure -- in the wake of the GOP's major midterm election victories -- as the time to fight Obama on health care reform, his immigration executive action and more.
Gohmert's move comes after another Republican, Rep. Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma, said that he'll be voting against Boehner as well. Bridenstine said Sunday that both Yoho and Gohmert are good alternatives.
"In my opinion, this vote is between continuing the status quo or moving in a new direction," Bridenstine said in a statement. "Members of Congress now have two good choices, neither one including a vote for the status quo."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/04/politics/gohmert-and-yoho-challenge-boehner/This is where the new members of the GOP conference in the House can make themselves useful in reshaping the GOP brand and not letting the status quo of the right do business as usual.
