WASHINGTON: Among the nine Republicans vying to fill the US Congress House speaker job that’s been vacant for nearly three weeks, the only Texan candidate is Representative Pete Sessions, reported German news agency (dpa).
He’s vowed to unify the party’s many factions so that the conservative agenda can move ahead, a goal that eluded the last speaker, whose ouster brought the House to a standstill, and two senior Republicans who’ve tried to replace him.
Two committee chairmen from Texas, Representatives Roger Williams of Willow Park and Jodey Arrington of Lubbock, opted not to run, announcing their decisions shortly before a noon deadline Sunday ahead of a closed-door candidate forum Monday night and the GOP election Tuesday morning.
Sessions, 68, is in his 13th term. He declared his candidacy Friday, shortly after House Republicans ditched Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan after he lost three floor votes with ebbing internal support.
The other two Texans expressed interest but never formally jumped in.
“The American people are weary of our dysfunction,“ Arrington said in a statement.
“At some point, we have to reunite as a Conference, refocus on our common cause, and get back in the fight for the future of our country.”
The speakership has been vacant since Oct 3, leaving the House paralysed because its rules require an elected speaker to conduct business.
“This is probably one of the most embarrassing things I’ve seen,“ House Foreign Affairs chairman Michael McCaul, Republican from Austin, Texas, said Sunday on ABC News’s This Week.
“If we don’t have a Speaker of the House, we can’t govern. And every day goes by, we’re essentially shut down as a government.”
He declined to pick a favourite. There is no clear front-runner, the early favourite among the nine candidates is Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the party’s No. 3 leader. Several others on the leadership team are also running.
Sessions doesn’t currently hold a leadership post but he has for nearly half his time in office. He came to Congress after the 1996 elections and held a Dallas-based seat for two decades before Representative Colin Allred, Democrat, Dallas, defeated him. He made a comeback two years later in a different district.
Sessions chaired the Rules Committee for six years under speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan. It’s a powerful leadership post that shapes how legislation is debated and amended. The chairman often leads floor debates.
Before that Sessions chaired the party’s House campaign arm, overseeing a tectonic victory in the 2010 midterms. Republicans netted 63 seats that year. They booted Democratic speaker Nancy Pelosi in the biggest shift of seats since 1948.
Sessions can offer experience and acumen at both legislating and election strategy.-Bernama
