It’s no secret that the U.S. House of Representatives Republican majority at times can turn into an unruly bunch.
The TEA party faction, along with the arch-conservative Freedom Caucus, drove former Speaker John Boehner batty enough to make him quit.
Boehner’s successor, Paul Ryan, is getting the same treatment. The House Freedom Caucus helped torpedo a new farm bill for reasons that hardly anything to do with farm policy.
Ryan is a lame duck. He isn’t seeking re-election to the House from Wisconsin. Indeed, his speakership has been no picnic from the get-go. He now is finding it difficult to keep his own partisan troops in line, let alone getting any help from Democratic House members who don’t much like or respect him to begin with.
The farm bill got entangled with immigration, according to The Hill:
The House bill became inextricably linked with immigration after the Freedom Caucus demanded a vote on the conservative measureĀ as moderates neared the 206 signatures needed to force a vote on a separate immigration plan that falls well short of the proposalĀ pushed for by the White House.
Despite leadership offering the group of conservative hardliners a vote on the immigration measure in June, the members refused to back the legislation.
House conservatives seemingly want to poison an important aid to farmers and ranchers with an issue that ought to stand on its own.
As for the speaker, he told the country he had to be dragged kicking and screaming to seek the job he now holds. I guess he meant it.
Speaker Ryan’s remaining time as the Man of the House appears headed for a rocky conclusion.