For those of you with recall powers stretching back longer than the media mean (which is about 30 seconds), you may recall that Steve Scalise was the chair of the Republican Study Committee until he rammed his way into the whip spot.
You should watch Scalise's successor, Bill Flores in the video above, where he manages to connect the Baltimore riots to gay marriage.
It stands to reason that the next Speaker should also be a chair of the Republican Study Committee, right? And so it is.
Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX), a chair of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said he intended to run for speaker of the House in an interview with the Texas Tribune Monday. He said he would launch his campaign for the gavel as long as Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) -- who has been asked to run by many Republicans -- continues to stay out of the race.
“I don’t want to share private conversations, but he was still a 'no' as of yesterday when I spoke to him,” Flores said.
Among Flores' top donors:
Koch Industries: $17,000
Energy Futures Holding Corp: $19,999
Talos Energy: $15,000
Flores was elected in 2010 and hasn't done much notable other than take over the Republican Study Committee, which Scalise was ejected from for not being conservative enough. But he's all about democracy, folks!
Flores also nodded to some of the rule changes members the Freedom Caucus have been asking for to give rank-and-file member more influence in the House's decision-making process.
He said the House GOP now has the chance to nominate "someone who’ll come in and say, ‘Let’s look at all the rules. Let’s figure out how we turn this thing the right way so that ideas flow from up from the bottom — from our constituents through the representatives and through the committee process and then on the floor.'"
Debt default and government shutdown, here we come!
