The DC, Maryland and Virginia area has been preparing all week for ever increasing snow forecasts. Nothing scares the District more than weather. Check out the professional predictions of the Capitol’s impending doom at The Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang, or you can watch storm Jonas LIVE courtesy of Speaker Paul Ryan.
In his final State of the Union address, President Obama hit a range of topics, from climate change, curing cancer, reforming criminal sentencing, campaign finance reform, and Cuba. The President made a pointed appeal for congressional cooperation this year on only a handful of legislative matters. None were the sort of bold new proposals that would have been destined for “dead on arrival” pronouncements from Congressional Republicans even if he were not a Democrat in the final year of his run.
On the education front, the Administration will continue to push for two of his major unfinished education priorities, giving every college student two years of free community college and providing the nation’s youngsters with universal pre-K. The President promoted hands-on computer science classes and noted that plans for the year ahead include “helping students learn to write computer code.”
One new policy push the President announced was an ambitious national effort to cure cancer, a moon shot-like goal, to be led by Vice President Joe Biden, which could rely heavily on new research. The White House is already developing a detailed road map for accelerating research, compressing 10 years’ worth of work into five, using the National Institutes of Health and private partnerships. One goal is not just to accelerate research, but get treatments to patients. The move comes after the House has passed HR 6, the 21st Century Cures Act last year as well as Vice President Biden’s own recent loss of his from cancer.
The full text of the address is here.
After weeks of speculation and “Draft Biden” efforts, the Vice President today announced that he is not going to run for President.
In a shocking turn of events, McCarthy withdrew himself from the race moments before the caucus was set to vote on the nominees and after making a speech to the caucus that morning as to why he should be Speaker. McCarthy will remain Majority Leader. Additionally, with McCarthy not running for Speaker, the subsequent leadership races are no longer moot because the position of Majority Leader will no longer be vacated. As a result, the vote was immediately cancelled and the Speaker election on the 29th has been postponed. Boehner will remain Speaker until another candidate can be found.
McCarthy said that he did not have the assured votes to secure being Speaker in the larger election on the 29th, which is why he withdrew. The House Freedom Caucus had said that it will not support the caucus candidate in the larger election if it was McCarthy.
The next presumed candidate is Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), who endorsed McCarthy at the morning caucus meeting. Ryan has adamantly asserted he will not run for Speaker. He is currently the House Ways and Means Committee Chair. Immediately following the breaking news of McCarthy’s withdrawal, Ryan stated that he will not run for Speaker, and he has echoed this many times subsequently.
That leaves the Republican Leadership and caucus in a pickle. In the wake of Majority Leader McCarthy’s abrupt withdrawal from the Speaker race, House Republicans kept floating trial balloon speaker candidates Thursday in the wake of Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s about-face on climbing the GOP ladder, including several who might serve as an “interim” speaker.There have been points in history where the House has operated without a Speaker, but it has not been a practice in recent history. The idea of a “Interim Speaker” has been bantered about. The idea that the Member would be someone who has already announced their intent to retire allowing them to serve as Speaker for about 16 months. The only problem with this plan is who exactly would be the individual that could receive the support of both the various factions of the Republican caucus, and how this position would function…and if doing such a thing is even legitimate….
In a move that could spell trouble for current leadership looking to rise in office, current Speaker John Boehner has postponed the House GOP leadership elections from this Thursday, October 8th, until October 29th. The nominees for the Speaker’s positions will be declared on the 8th, but now, the actual election will be held weeks later.
Much of the reason for the oath postponement is due to House Republican’s contention that other GOP leadership spots cannot be filled until a Speaker is officially selected. The full House of Representatives votes on the Speaker, and the request seems to question whether Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, and current front runner, can gain enough votes to secure Speaker. Over the weekend, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) announced his intention to run and lost no time airing grievances at McCarthy’s leadership.
Meanwhile, the move will allow the new Speaker to set any subsequent leadership elections if such elections are necessary (if McCarthy moves up and vacates the Majority Leader post).
Also, supporters of Reps Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Tom Price (R-GA), who have both announced their intentions to run for Majority Leader should McCarthy win Speaker, are concerned that the additional time will allow a “true conservative” to enter the fray for Majority Leader.
Read more about the leadership elections at Roll Call.
Read more on Chaffetz’s run against McCarthy at Politico.