Boehner threatens purge of member’s Committee seats if not supported

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The rule tweak began as an informal discussion but has morphed into a concrete proposal that is beginning to circulate in the House. According to people briefed on it, any Republican who votes on the House floor in January against the conference’s nominee for House speaker—that is, the candidate chosen by a majority of the House GOP during its closed-door leadership elections in November—would be severely punished. Specifically, sources say, any dissenters would be stripped of all committee assignments for that Congress.

“There’s a real concern that there’s between 30 and 40 people that would vote against the speaker on the House floor, so they’re trying to change the conference rules to make sure that doesn’t happen,” said a GOP member familiar with the proposal.

“There are members frustrated with other members about what happened last time,” said a senior Republican.

Twelve House Republicans refused to vote for Boehner’s reelection in January 2013 at the outset of the 113th Congress. This level of dissent was insufficient to oust Boehner from the speakership, but served to embarrass the speaker and publicly air the party’s dirty laundry. The incident infuriated Boehner’s allies, who claimed no opposition was voiced privately during the conference elections—an affront to the traditional process of keeping internal campaigns private.

(RELATED: Amash slams GOP leadership for purging him without notice)

More over at National Journal. And just what happened previously?

Conservative Group Launches Campaign To ‘Depose’ Boehner From Speakership’ December 7, 2012

The backlash against Speaker of the House John Boehner’s removal of several conservative members of Congress from committees continued Wednesday, with one conservative group calling for Republicans to “depose” Boehner from his speakership.

American Majority Action (AMA) is launching a #FireBoehner campaign. If 16 members of the Republican Party abstain from voting for Boehner as speaker in January, he will be one vote shy of the 218 necessary to confirm his speakership.

“Speaker Boehner has been an abysmal failure as speaker, and his latest purge is the nail in the coffin for conservatives,” said Ned Ryun, president and CEO of AMA. “Boehner has never won a negotiation [sic] battle with the White House or Senate – and he’s been nothing short of an embarrassing spokesman for the conservative movement. It’s time for him to go.”

The recent anger stems in large part from the removal of Reps. David Schweikert, Justin Amash and Tim Huelskamp from their spots on committees. Boehner has said it was an issue of loyalty, Buzzfeed reported, but conservatives have labeled it a purge of more conservative and libertarian elements of the party.