Reuters, Washington :
John Boehner narrowly won a third term as House of Representatives Speaker on Tuesday, surviving a stiff challenge from 25 conservative Republicans that may signal a growing split in the party as it takes full control of Congress.
Boehner received 216 of 408 votes cast in a tense vote, with a growing faction of dissident House Republicans opposing him because they said he had done too little to cut spending and fight President Barack Obama’s immigration and healthcare policies.
The last time that more than 25 House members voted against a Speaker candidate from their own party came in 1859, according to congressional historians.
The number of Republican defectors was more than twice the dozen who withheld their support from him in an election two years ago, evidence of the stark party divisions that could make it hard to pass legislation, including bills to keep government agencies operating without interruption.
One of the defectors, Representative Walter Jones of North Carolina, said he was deluged by calls from people urging Boehner’s ouster. Jones, like others, complained of Boehner’s handling of a massive government spending bill in December.
“We didn’t get 72 hours to read it, it was 1,600 pages and spent $1.1 trillion,” Jones said.
Obama, in a statement wishing Republicans well, said there will be “pitched battles” with Congress but that there are also “enormous areas of potential agreement.”
Last year’s Congress, which was badly gridlocked, has been dubbed one of the least productive in history.
Boehner’s detractors in Tuesday’s vote were conservative activists, some of them junior members, who regularly have voted against House Republican leadership-backed bills. But they also included seven-term Representative Steve King of Iowa, who has helped stymie Boehner’s efforts to advance major changes to U.S. immigration laws.
Meanwhile, Idaho’s Raul Labrador, who declined to vote for Boehner in the Speaker’s election two years ago, supported him on Tuesday, as did Tea Party darling John Fleming of Louisiana.
“As Speaker all I ask and frankly expect is that we disagree without being disagreeable,” a tearful Boehner told House members after the election. Boehner is often overcome by emotion at the start of a new Congress.
John Boehner narrowly won a third term as House of Representatives Speaker on Tuesday, surviving a stiff challenge from 25 conservative Republicans that may signal a growing split in the party as it takes full control of Congress.
Boehner received 216 of 408 votes cast in a tense vote, with a growing faction of dissident House Republicans opposing him because they said he had done too little to cut spending and fight President Barack Obama’s immigration and healthcare policies.
The last time that more than 25 House members voted against a Speaker candidate from their own party came in 1859, according to congressional historians.
The number of Republican defectors was more than twice the dozen who withheld their support from him in an election two years ago, evidence of the stark party divisions that could make it hard to pass legislation, including bills to keep government agencies operating without interruption.
One of the defectors, Representative Walter Jones of North Carolina, said he was deluged by calls from people urging Boehner’s ouster. Jones, like others, complained of Boehner’s handling of a massive government spending bill in December.
“We didn’t get 72 hours to read it, it was 1,600 pages and spent $1.1 trillion,” Jones said.
Obama, in a statement wishing Republicans well, said there will be “pitched battles” with Congress but that there are also “enormous areas of potential agreement.”
Last year’s Congress, which was badly gridlocked, has been dubbed one of the least productive in history.
Boehner’s detractors in Tuesday’s vote were conservative activists, some of them junior members, who regularly have voted against House Republican leadership-backed bills. But they also included seven-term Representative Steve King of Iowa, who has helped stymie Boehner’s efforts to advance major changes to U.S. immigration laws.
Meanwhile, Idaho’s Raul Labrador, who declined to vote for Boehner in the Speaker’s election two years ago, supported him on Tuesday, as did Tea Party darling John Fleming of Louisiana.
“As Speaker all I ask and frankly expect is that we disagree without being disagreeable,” a tearful Boehner told House members after the election. Boehner is often overcome by emotion at the start of a new Congress.
