House Republicans tiring of Boehner's lack of leadership

On April 26th, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) told Greta van Susteren in no uncertain terms that if Eric Holder didn't comply with the congressional subpoena, the Attorney General would be found in contempt by a certain date:

Before Memorial Day, Eric Holder will either comply or he will suffer consequences, and when I say consequences, I mean contempt of Congress.

Today, Gowdy is one of a group of House Republicans that doesn't seem to be too happy with Speaker John Boehner's apparent position that there will be no such contempt citation issued by that date. Gowdy is one of a group of both named and unnamed Congressional Republicans that appear to be growing weary of the lack of leadership coming from Republican leaders and met for dinner to discuss it.

Via POLITICO:

In short, these conservatives want more from Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.)

“There’s no use to having the majority if you are going to be hamstrung by your perception of political vicissitudes,” said Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina , who was at the dinner.

“We do not want to play a game where we adopt a playing-not-to-lose mentality,” added Rep. Steve Southerland of Florida.“We want to play to win. You have to know when and where to take your shots. What our dinner was about was [deciding] where do we feel that we can continue to push … [and] where it would be wrought with danger.”

Of the lawmakers at the confab — several spoke anonymously, others for attribution — the common thread was that it’s time to push leadership further.

“What I’m saying is, where there is no vision, the people perish,” Southerland said. “That’s biblical. So what I’m saying is we need to cast our vision. I think our vision, when compared to the president’s vision, is a stark contrast.”

One example of such pressure on leadership is coming soon. Conservatives — primarily those on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee — are circulating a letter to Boehner pressing him on his handling of the “Fast and Furious” scandal.

During a private meeting with Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Boehner decided to slow the pace of Committee Chairman Darrell Issa. But the speaker also said he supports holding the administration accountable and said he’s open to all options in the investigation of the botched Fast and Furious program, in which guns were sold to Mexican cartels, resulting in deaths of federal agents. Issa and his committee expected to vote on the contempt citation this week, according to lawyers who were preparing for a hearing.

The article ended with a focus on Gowdy and Fast and Furious:

At the Capitol Hill Club dinner, feelings were particularly raw about how leadership is handling the Fast and Furious controversy. Mulvaney turned to Gowdy in front of the group and asked whether contempt is appropriate at this point.

Yes, said Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor.

“I don’t know the speaker well. I know Kevin and Eric very well. I don’t feel at all drummed out by them,” Gowdy said, speaking broadly of his relationship with leadership. But “there’s a sense to not ruffle the waters. My response is, ‘You’re asking people to trust you with the gears of government and leadership. If your sole objective is to just hang on, and not do anything with leadership, that’s not a compelling case.’

“So, if we are being drummed out, it’s our fault. Because the majority of the people in our conference describe themselves as conservative. What you’ll see in the next couple weeks, is push back from the conservatives.”

Ladies and gentlemen, the Speaker of the House!



h/t Sipsey Street