Todd M. Siebert: ‘I had to take action on behalf of the American people’

U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C.

WASHINGTON – David won the first round against Goliath on Capitol Hill.

It was up in the air all day Wednesday, but as numerous Capitol Hill sources assured WND would happen, the House of Representatives decided not to vote on a sudden and dramatic motion to oust Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, until after the August recess.

If the vote had come this week, the revolt could have extinguished quietly and quickly.

Now, the movement has the chance to gain steam.

Conservative opponents of the speaker are now hoping Americans at town halls across the country will be encouraged to ask their Republican representatives why Boehner, and the rest of Congress, are not doing what many voters feel they were elected to do: defund executive amnesty and Obamacare. Conservative critics say Congress has, instead, merely rubber-stamping the Obama administration’s agenda.

And that is exactly what U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said he wanted to do with his resolution that shook the nation’s capital: Ignite a nationwide debate on the effectiveness of the GOP and its leadership.

“It’s really more about trying to have a conversation about making this place work,” Meadows said Tuesday night. “Hopefully we’ll have some discussions about that in the days and weeks to come. It’s more about having an inclusive process where you have debate on a regular basis, where you have open dialogue and an exchange of ideas. That’s what this is all about.”

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio

“I hope the talk show hosts who are so frustrated would pick up on this thing and beat the drum so loud that other members feel like they can be encouraged to join this effort to change the leadership of the House,” said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C.

The almost-always smiling and unfailingly congenial Meadows is an unlikely revolutionary.

But he threw a bomb onto the House floor on Tuesday evening at 6:00, when, without warning many of his friends, colleagues or even staff members, the congressman offered a motion to vacate the chair, an extremely rare procedural move that seeks to remove the House speaker from his leadership post.

The motion states that Boehner tried to “consolidate power and centralize decision-making, bypassing the majority of the 435 members of Congress and the people they represent,” and used the “legislative calendar to create crises for the American people, in order to compel members to vote for legislation.”

It also charges the “Speaker has, through inaction, caused the power of Congress to atrophy, thereby making Congress subservient to the Executive and Judicial branches, diminishing the voice of the American People.”

And so, just one month after the Washington Post called him “the friendliest guy in the House,” Meadows likely became the most unpopular man in the Capitol overnight, after what Politico branded his declaration of “all-out war” against Boehner.

The speaker’s allies were generally furious. Meadow’s allies were mostly silent.

“People are stunned. People are angry that somebody would pull this stunt,” said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., a top Boehner ally.

Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, called it a “cheap political stunt.”

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., disparaged it as just “a fundraising tool.”

“It’s something that will disrupt our plans to talk about policy for the August recess,” said an irate Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La. “It’s really damaging. We were trying to leave on a high note. It’s divisive.”

Both camps fear the spectacle of GOP infighting will distract from important business at hand, such as gathering support to stop President Obama’s Iran deal.

“We will be getting bogged down on who is speaker over the August recess,” lamented Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y. “We could end up like a European parliament. We should be talking about Iran. It’s terrible.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio

But, to hear Meadows describe it, he had no choice.

“I felt like I had to take action on behalf of the American people. And for all the millions of Americans who believe that we’re just not accomplishing much in Washington, D.C.,” he told radio host Mark Levin on Tuesday night. “This felt like a move I had to make.”

The scuttlebutt on Capitol Hill Wednesday was that Meadows had committed career suicide.

Meadows acknowledged that to Levin, saying he was reminded of the signers of the Declaration of Independence who feared they had signed their own death warrant. Not that it was nearly that extreme, but Meadows did say he might have signed his own career death warrant.

So, how could he do something so drastic as to openly attack the leader of his own caucus? And with seemingly little chance of success and little support from even his own allies?

Because it was simply the right thing to do, insisted Meadows. He said his conscience compelled him.

“If you’re not willing to stand up for the people that send you to Washington, D.C., why go?”

Meadows said his son said it best, “Dad, here’s the thing – if that’s what you believe and that’s what the people who voted for you believe, then you have an obligation (to do it.)”

“This is yet another sign of frustration and desperation of conservatives who are routinely punished by leadership when they challenge Boehner or McConnell’s priorities,” talk show host Laura Ingraham told WND.

She added, “(Sen.) Jeff Sessions was moved off his Budget Committee chair for a reason—and it wasn’t because the GOP leadership was happy with him. But conservatives simply do not have the power they need to get done what they want. Period.”

Laura Ingraham

Even among the 30 to 60 conservative House members known to oppose Boehner to varying degrees, few rushed to defend Meadows.

WND contacted a number of the most conservative members of the House and Senate for comment and did not receive a reply.

But that silence did not mean they disagreed with Meadows’ intent. It was widely reported that many questioned his timing.

Strong Boehner critics Reps. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Politico they thought the move was ill-advised.

“There’s been a lot of discussion about leadership or the lack of leadership,” said Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., one of just two lawmakers to publicly stand up for Meadows.

The other, Meadow’s fellow North Carolinian Jones, told CNN that Boehner uses intimidation and coercion to get members’ votes, adding, “No one should be intimidated for voting your conscience. If you are here to vote for the will of the Speaker and not the will of the people, you don’t need to be here.”

Meadows echoed that sentiment to Levin, saying if he were only allowed to vote only the way leadership told him to, “Then its just the illusion of a democracy and a representative form of government if we’re allowing three or four people to make all off the decisions, it’s wrong.”

The soft-spoken congressman said he hoped the American people will speak up and say they want a different leadership in the people’s House.

“As for me, I couldn’t be silent any longer. Indeed, it’s something that had to be done regardless of the consequences, and there will be consequences to pay. This particular decision may send me home,” he said on the radio. “It may make sure that I don’t get re-elected, but ultimately, it’s one that had to be made.”

“Personally, I don’t relish being punished, but, yeah, the punishment is surely going to come. But, it’s nothing compared to the sacrifices that our founding fathers had to make.”

Meadows knows a thing or two about being punished by Boehner.

At the speaker’s request, Meadows was stripped of his chairmanship of an Oversight subcommittee in June after he and 33 other conservatives committed the virtual heresy of voting against a procedural rule, during a debate over a trade deal.

“They want to enforce their rules,” Ingraham observed at the time. “This is what the mafia does. I’m sorry, but this is a political mafia up on Capitol Hill.”

After a public outcry, Boehner changed course a few days later and had the Oversight chair give Meadows his gavel back.

So, it looked like he and the speaker had mended fences, which is why so many colleagues were so surprised by Meadows’ move against Boehner.

Mark Levin

The congressman said he was just keeping his vow to make his neighbors’ voices heard in Washington despite the enormous pressure to give priority to the wishes of Congressional leaders over those of the people.

The congressman said his main problem was not that he and fellow conservatives were not getting their way in Congress, but that GOP leadership was simply not listening to them, not valuing their input, and shutting them out of discussions on the most important issues in America.

He says he would like to replace Boehner, not necessarily to install a conservative, but anyone who will listen.

“It may not be a conservative that comes in, but as long as they’re inclusive and allow people to vote their conscience, that’s the key.”

Levin comforted Meadows that what he was stating was obvious to many, and that, “There are millions of us who agree with you, so its important you are putting down your marker.”

“Mark, that means a lot to me,” replied Meadows. “I can tell you these will be very difficult days, the next couple of days, and, as you mentioned, it will not come without retribution and that’s to be understood.”

“But there are millions of Americans who know there is something drastically wrong with the way things happen in Washington, D.C.”

Meadows said to pretend like there’s not something wrong with the way the system works would be disingenuous.

“If there’s nothing I can do about it then somebody else needs to take my place. Hopefully, my colleagues will see there’s something inherently wrong with the leadership that we have and it’s time for a change.”

Levin suggested voters support Meadows by flooding their representatives with emails, tweets and phone calls.

Meadows said it was not really a matter of his political survival, but something vastly more important.

“This is really more about the future of our country and will we have a representative form of government.”

Follow Garth Kant @DCgarth

from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2015/07/30/i-had-to-take-action-on-behalf-of-the-american-people/