Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is no stranger to congressional discord. He says the timing of Congress’ summer recess could not be better.
“It’s a good thing we’re going to the August break,” Gingrich told the Washington Examiner.
Before resigning from Congress in 1998, the first Republican House speaker since the 1950s was blamed for partial government shutdowns, investigated by the House Ethics Committee and targeted by conservative rebels within his own party looking to oust him as speaker.
So when North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., launched an effort to depose current Speaker of the House John Boehner, Gingrich suggested that he not lose any sleep.
“I guess Meadows thought he’d make some point,” he said. “But the fact is, you learn as speaker that there are problems you have to deal with and problems you can safely ignore — I think he can safely ignore this one.”
The Ohio Republican appeared to do exactly that prior to the advice from his predecessor. During a press conference Thursday, Boehner calmly dismissed questions about his colleague’s attempt to dismiss him as speaker.
“This is one member, alright? I’ve got broad support amongst my colleagues, and frankly, it isn’t even deserving of a vote,” he reportedly told members of the press.
Gingrich displayed a similar attitude, saying that “if 15 people had filed the motion, we could think that something is going on.”
Meadows’ motion to “vacate the chair” comes after months of intraparty squabbling between Republican leaders and their rank-and-file. In July alone, disgruntled conservatives repeatedly attacked both Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Last Friday, Republican presidential candidate and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz blasted McConnell on the Senate floor after the Majority Leader resurrected an amendment to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, a federal agency opposed by most conservatives as a form of corporate welfare.
“What we just saw today was an absolute demonstration that not only what he told every Republican senator, but what he told the press over and over and over again, was a simple lie,” Cruz said of McConnell at the time. “We now know that when the majority leader looks us in the eyes and makes an explicit commitment that he is willing to say things that he knows are false.”
According to Gingrich, the situation between House Republicans and Boehner is “different” than the antipathy between McConnell and Cruz.
“There’s clearly very deep animosity between Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz,” he said, adding that it “was clear a year ago and it’s personal.”
Meanwhile, Gingrich says that Boehner’s critics in the House and in conservative circles should bear in mind what he’s accomplished since he was elected speaker in 2011.
“Ironically, Boehner is the speaker who has the largest Republican majority since 1928,” Gingrich said. “[Boehner] gained seats in 2010, he gained a couple in 2012, and he gained a lot more in 2014. So you can like or dislike John’s style, but he’s been pretty darn effective and he’s going to continue to be very darn effective in a very difficult environment.”
Many conservatives disagree. On Monday, syndicated talk radio host Mark Levin called both Boehner and McConnell “a disgrace” and accused the two of “endangering this country.”
A Pew Research poll in May illustrated the magnitude of Republican voters’ dissatisfaction with their party’s leadership. According to the survey of registered voters, only 37 percent of Republicans said GOP leaders were “keeping their campaign promises” and 41 percent approved of the job performance by party leaders.
Nevertheless, Gingrich says that conservative critics have become so preoccupied with disparaging their party’s leaders that they’re jeopardizing their current majority and the party’s potential for continued success.
“With all of the discontent over the Republican Party among conservatives, we gained seats at every level in the summer of 2014,” he said. “We gained Senate seats, we gained House seats, we gained governorships, we gained seats in state legislatures… So I would say that there is an underlying and gradual movement towards us that is very encouraging.”
