Mick Mulvaney on Boehner resignation

Today John Boehner announced that he will resign as Speaker, and from Congress, effective the end of October.

I have always liked John personally. I also think that the work he did to ban earmarks in Congress will go down as a tremendous achievement during his time in Washington.

But that said, I think that he had lost the ability to lead the House GOP conference in one of its most basic Constitutional duties: to be a check and balance against an overreaching President. By constantly indicating that he was unwilling to use the power of the purse — the primary tool given to the legislative branch to counteract the executive — he, along with leadership in the Senate, led Congress down the road to being irrelevant in the running of this Country. The recent plan of action regarding Planned Parenthood — which Speaker Boehner announced today will be fully funded — is only the most recent in a series of disappointments.

In January, I cofounded the House Freedom Caucus with a group of conservatives after it became clear that there was no real, activist conservative group in the U.S. House. From day one, our mission was to organize and stick together in hopes of moving the House GOP Conference to the right, and reestablishing Congress as a co-equal branch of government. We haven’t always been successful, but we have let people know in no uncertain terms — both inside and outside of Congress — that the conservative voice is very much alive.

Many people asked me today if this was a victory for the conservative movement. I do not see this as a victory for anyone. I see this as a necessary step toward reestablishing the proper constitutional function of the Congress. Re-empowering Congress has been a goal of the House Freedom Caucus since its inception
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The way for conservatives to make an impact is to coalesce and stick together. We know we are outnumbered. I look forward to working with the next Speaker to continue moving our conference a little further to the right.

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