Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) visited Breitbart News Sunday to discuss why he initiated a “motion to vacate the chair” aimed to oust Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) as the GOP leader in the House of Representatives.
Meadows filed the request at the end of July to prompt a “family conversation” within the GOP on the future of the House leadership. “It’s really more about trying to have a conversation on making this place work, where everybody’s voice matters, where there’s not a punitive culture,” he said before congress broke for recess in August.
In the last 105 years, only once has such a maneuver been attempted. If he is successful in forcing the election of a new speaker it would be the first time in U.S. history.
Earlier in the year, the congressman, who Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon referred to as “one of the most courageous men in the House of Representatives and an American hero,” was at the center of a House squabble. GOP leadership stripped Meadows of an Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee chairmanship when he voted against the rule that allowed for consideration of President Obama’s request for fast-track authority (TPA) to negotiate the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Meadows regained his post as chairman after fellow conservatives expressed outrage, but ill feelings remain.
Meadows told Bannon, who hosts Breitbart News Sunday airing on Sirius XM Patriot radio, channel 125, at 7 pm ET, “ We need a change in Washington D.C., regardless of party. Most Americans know that the way business is being done is broken and we have got to change that. And I appreciate Breitbart for addressing the topic.”
Bannon asked the congressman, “What was it that triggered you to say, ‘I may be one man standing alone but I’m going to do something about it. What was it that forced you to take action?”
Meadows responded, “As a nation we are facing very desperate times. Iran, Immigration, but really the power of congress has been given away to the executive branch. We were promised if we won the senate we were going to be able to do something about it; because then we will be able to control the house and the senate. Now we are finding much of what’s being done in Washington D.C. is not following up on those promises. Whether it was fighting executive amnesty tooth and nail—that really wasn’t done. We passed the cromnibus bill, then we passed the DHS funding bill in February,” which failed to block Obama’s executive amnesty.
The tipping point for Meadows came down to one email from a constituent he described as a “country club Republican.” He sent Meadows an email saying, “We got Benghazi, we got the IRS, we got missing emails, we got immigration, all of these things going on and I thought we won in November. And here we are still fighting it. I am one ticked off American.”
The congressman explained that “this was a guy you would think would be an establishment type. But he’s fed up. I think most of America’s fed up. It’s time for change and I’m tired of kicking the can down the road. We’ve got to make some long term decisions and make sure that the American voice is heard. ”
Host Bannon asked Meadows to explain how he plans to accomplish his radical proposal of removing Boehner from the speakership. He replied that September is going to be critical for congress because “We are going to be funding the government. We have Planned Parenthood, which I believe needs to be defunded based on the horrific videos we have been seeing. It’s time that we address that.”
Meadows holds Republicans responsible for failing to affirm that the Iran deal is a treaty. “We should have needed a super-majority to approve it and now we need a super majority to disapprove it,” he told Breitbart listeners.
The 56-year old “courageous conservative,” as nationally syndicated radio host and constitutional scholar Mark Levin labled him, added that “We need to make our recruitment centers and our National Guard centers safe, so they can protect themselves and we can avoid tragedy that we saw in Chattanooga.”
All of these things need to be addressed in September, Meadows pointed out. “If our leadership is not willing to listen to the American people, then it is a time that we have a change in our leadership. Is it going to be tough? No doubt. But I’m telling you momentum is growing. Americans from across the country have been reaching out to their members of congress to weigh in.”
Meadows said “it’s time for our leaders to stop making promises and leaving them unfulfilled.” He added that, based on the whip count, if a vote had taken place to remove Boehner from the speakership before the recess, he would have had to wrangle up votes from house Democrats to keep his seat.
“At town hall meetings and every where I go, people tell me, ‘I’m, standing with you. We’re standing behind you.’ There is a growing momentum. I’m hoping that leadership can change course and they are willing to listen, and willing to fight for Americans.”
Meadows believes that it’s a good sign that, if we had a presidential Republican primary right now, we would have a “more non-conventional nominee than an establishment one.” Meadows concluded saying that, “Having the people at my back is better than having D.C. in my Pocket.”
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