Following several news reports that suggested Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was nominated “unanimously” to retain the gavel by his Republican peers, U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) issued the following statement:
Today we had a Republican Conference vote on nominating a candidate for Speaker of the House election, which we will have in early January 2017 in open session on the House floor. Several members have pointed out that we had inadequate time to have a fair, true nomination process, having just elected last week the members who would actually vote on the nomination.
We had discussed not voting yes or no and have as of this writing confirmed with two other members that they did not vote yes or no, as there was no alternative. The speaker had chosen yesterday not to make a speech and open himself to unlimited questions like most of the candidates.
Although some press has said that I “yelled” at Speaker Ryan, I did not yell, but hopefully made my concerns with our Republican leaders’ actions crystal clear. I did not plan to and did not vote for or against Speaker Ryan in the election to nominate a speaker. I had intended to ask the speaker to make time for a visit and, to his credit, he agreed to talk.
This nation just came to the brink of losing four of our 10 original Bill of Rights, and I will not go quietly down another road of failing to use our majority to accomplish what’s been promised.
