He doesn’t want the job—Paul Ryan has made that abundantly clear—but Republicans still hope that the Ways and Means Committee chairman will change his mind and seek the House speakership. He is, after all, the only possible candidate who could plausibly bridge the ideological, stylistic, and strategic chasm between the mainstream, establishment-friendly Republicans and the 35 to 40 lawmakers, mostly members of the Freedom Caucus, that The Wall Street Journal has dubbed “the Refuseniks.” Even if Ryan assents, however, the path to the speakership might require concessions to the Refuseniks that he would be unwilling to make. One Freedom Caucus demand is to codify the so-called Hastert Rule, requiring that a majority of the chamber’s Republicans support a measure before the full House can consider it. This would change the House to one in which a plurality, not a majority, rules. Nothing could pass the House without approval from 124 Republicans, the barest majority of the chamber’s 247 Republicans, effectively moving the ideological center of gravity to the right. This would further marginalize the House, already the most ideological part
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.