State congressmen weigh in on Boehner’s decision to quit

U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-5th, accurately predicted on Friday that a congressman from California would go after the House Speaker position.

On Monday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced his candidacy for the role left vacant by the surprise announcement that current House Speaker John Boehner would resign at the end of October.

Brooks made his prediction while speaking to Yellowhammer Radio about Boehner's resignation announcement on Friday.

"There is a smorgasbord from the more liberal wing of the Republican party," Brooks told Yellowhammer Radio radio host Cliff Sims. "Kevin McCarthy out of California, who is second in command, he's the House Majority Leader… Cathy McMorris Rodgers out of the state of Washington, she's from the liberal 25 percent of the GOP conference."

Two of Brooks' Alabama counterparts, U.S. Reps. Gary Palmer and Robert Aderholt recently weighed in on Boehner's announcement. Aderholt, who represents Alabama's 4th congressional district, said while not everyone agreed with Boehner 100 percent of the time, "he worked hard to advance conservative principles of smaller government, curtailing regulatory overreach and reducing government spending."

"Since taking back the House of Representatives in 2010, the Republicans in Congress have reduced the annual budget deficit from the Obama high of $1.3 trillion in 2010 to $490 billion this year," he said. "Furthermore, discretionary spending has been cut to pre-Obama levels and is currently around 2007 spending levels. … It is now time to look forward as to who will lead with conservative principles in Congress."

Palmer, who represents the state's 6th district, described Boehner's decision to resign as "an extraordinary act of leadership."

"He did something that is very rare in politics, and among others who hold power: he voluntarily gave it up," Palmer said. "In doing so, he put what was in the best interest of the people he was leading ahead of his own interests. And it is for this that he should be remembered."McCarthy, who is Boehner's No. 2, sent a letter to GOP lawmakers on Monday pledging to fight for conservative principles and asking for their support as the next speaker.

The California Republican is strongly favored to get the job though he faces a challenge from Florida Republican Rep. Daniel Webster. McCarthy is serving his fifth term in Congress and has been endorsed by Boehner.

Shutdown avoided?

Boehner said Sunday that he's determined to clean up some of the mess of a politically gridlocked Congress in his final month before his successor takes over the House.

The Ohio Republican said a spending bill to keep the government running will pass and there will be no shutdown when money runs out at midnight Wednesday. Senate leaders announced Monday that senators were prepared to act on stopgap spending bill to avoid a shutdown.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell moved to strip the measure of a provision that would cancel federal funding of Planned Parenthood, and top House leaders are going along.

Boehner's resignation announcement promises to ease passage of the measure through a shell-shocked House. Boehner had been struggling to overcome objections from lawmakers such as Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., who strongly oppose passing a stopgap measure free of the Planned Parenthood language.

Boehner said Sunday the House would take up the Senate bill and also look at a select committee to investigate the video. The stopgap measure would require Democratic votes to pass.

"I expect my Democrat colleagues want to keep the government open as much as I do," Boehner said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

In the House, two key committees have released a draft of filibuster-proof budget legislation that would defund Planned Parenthood and keep a promise made during this spring's budget debate to repeal key elements of Obama's signature health care law. Panel votes are expected Tuesday and Wednesday.

The proposal would permit Republicans to deliver to Obama a measure to take away about $350 million in taxpayer funding Planned Parenthood now receives through the Medicaid program to provide health services to low-income women. Most of the money would be redirected to community health centers. It would also, after dozens of attempts, send a partial repeal of the Affordable Care Act to Obama's desk for the first time, under fast-track rules for budget legislation known as reconciliation.

The measure would repeal requirements for most individuals to buy health insurance, as well as a mandate that employers of more than 50 people offer their workers coverage. New taxes on medical devices and generously subsidized "Cadillac" health insurance plans would be repealed, too. But popular provisions such as allowing parents to keep their children on their health insurance plans until they turn 26 and subsidies for lower income people to buy health insurance through federal and state markets would be retained.

Obama has threatened to veto the measure.