‘Top down’ leadership from both parties has failed the American people and House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Georgia, says Republicans need to rally around a consensus candidate who can heal GOP divisions and foster a ‘bottom up’ approach that gives Americans the strongest voice in their government.
House Republicans are in waiting mode as they work towards electing a new Speaker of the House. John Boehner, R-Ohio, is planning to resign Oct. 30 but has indicated he would stay until a successor is chosen. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, was expected to replace Boehner but abruptly withdrew his name from consideration Oct.8. Price was a candidate for House Majority Leader until McCarthy ended his bid for speaker and decided to stay in his current position.
While the conservative House Freedom Caucus is endorsing Rep. Dan Webster, R-Fla., many GOP critics of Boehner say the election of speaker ought to be less about who takes the job and more about respecting the conservative members of the conference and fighting harder to enact the policy changes that earned the party sizable majorities in the House and Senate last year.
Price strongly agrees.
“I think the concerns are real and valid. Everyone who goes to Washington, by and large, has given up something significant to go to Washington to try to solve big problems. The House, through Republican and Democratic leadership, has been a top down model of leadership. That’s not the way you get things done in a manner that allows each and every American citizen to know that their representative is having a direct effect on the outcome of legislation in Washington,” said Price.
He says Republican leaders need to demonstrate that they recognize who truly holds the power.
“All of us understand and appreciate that we’re not going to get everything that we individually want, but we want to make certain that every member of Congress, every member of the House has an opportunity to effect the outcome. As long as that works from a bottom up process standpoint, I think you get much more buy-in, much more unity and a greater opportunity to represent the American people,” said Price.
Price admits significant tensions persist within the House Republican Conference but he says a bitter fight for the speaker’s chair is a prescription for disaster.
“Having talked to over two-thirds of our conference over the last three weeks or so, I know that the divisions are deep and the fissures are significant. I believe that having a contested election right now will in fact deepen those divisions and widen those fissures,” said Price.
To Price, the task ahead is for a frayed conference to rally around one leader.
“I’m desirous of having the Republican Conference rally around, in a consensus way, one individual that can pull us together and unify us so that we can work together in way that allows us to move these pieces of legislation to solve the challenges that we have over to the Senate and then demand and challenge them to do their work,” said Price.
Since McCarthy’s exit from the speaker’s race, many members are urging House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan to step up to the job but he has repeatedly distanced himself from that notion. Price says he would be happy to see his predecessor on the budget committee take the job, but he insists the key is to find someone everyone can agree upon – even if that person is him.
“I think Paul Ryan would be a great one. I really do. Paul is an individual who can pull us together and move us forward in a positive way. If that’s not to be, there are a number of folks I think that could fill that bill. If the conference thinks that I’m capable of being that unifying candidate, then we certainly would be willing to do so,” said Price.
However events play out in the coming days, Price says what may look like dysfunction inside the House Republican Conference is really the GOP trying to respond appropriately to an unprecedented event and setting the stage to better serve the voters that sent them to Washington.
“This is an historic time. We’ve never had, in the history of the country, a sitting speaker resign mid-term without a scandal. This is a remarkably challenging time but it’s a time where there’s great opportunity to select an individual as speaker who can unify our conference, address the challenges we have and move forward in a very, very positive way,” said Price.