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The
Hill
Boehner
tightens grip on rank and file to maximize power in 'fiscal cliff' talks
By Molly K. Hooper
11/20/12
Speaker John Boehner is tightening his grip on the House Republican
Conference weeks before an anticipated vote on a deficit deal.
The Ohio Republican has smoothed over differences with Majority Leader
Eric Cantor (R-Va.), expanded his powers on the panel that doles out
plum committee assignments, shot down a challenge to his earmark
moratorium and worked behind the scenes to ensure that Rep. Cathy
McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) would win her leadership contest.
All of Boehner’s moves are aimed at shoring up his influence over the
GOP conference, which in turn maximizes the Speaker’s leverage with
President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Boehner can’t afford to waste any of that leverage, which took a major
hit in the elections that delivered Obama a second term and increased
the number of Democrats in both the House and Senate.
Any bipartisan agreement on taxes and spending reached by the White
House and Boehner will test GOP unity — a test House Republicans
largely failed over the last two years.
Democrats seized on chaos in the House GOP ranks to divide and conquer
Republicans at the negotiating table during the payroll tax extension
debate earlier this year.
Read the rest of the article at The Hill
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