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        House Republicans Prepare for Contentious Vote on House Speaker

   by VOA News

   A move by a group of hardline conservatives in the
   Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives promises to
   complicate Thursday's vote to pick a successor to outgoing Speaker John
   Boehner.

   The so-called House Freedom Caucus voted Wednesday to support Florida
   Representative Daniel Webster for the post, rejecting a bid by
   California's Kevin McCarthy, the House majority leader and Boehner's
   second-in-command, who has gained the support of the majority of the
   247-member Republican caucus.

   If the entire 40-member Freedom Caucus votes for Webster when the full
   House votes on October 29, shortly before Boehner leaves Congress, it
   will deny McCarthy the votes he needs to become speaker.

   Boehner announced his resignation last month after a 25-year career in
   the House, the last five years as speaker.  His authority was
   constantly challenged by hardline conservatives -- many of whom were
   elected in the 2010 "Tea Party" wave that gave Republicans a majority
   in the House -- and who demanded a greater say in decision making and
   policy matters.

   Boehner decided to resign after agreeing to a short-term plan that kept
   the government fully funded past September 30, when its spending
   authority was scheduled to expire, in the process rejecting demands to
   strip federal funding for the women's reproductive health group Planned
   Parenthood from the budget.

   The effort to defund Planned Parenthood was strongly opposed by
   congressional Democrats and President Barack Obama, which set the stage
   for a possible government shutdown on October first.

   Under the U.S. Constitution, the speaker of the House follows the vice
   president in the line of succession to the presidency.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/house-republicans-prepare-for-content
   ious-vote-on-house-speaker/2996566.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/house-republicans-prepare-for-contentious-vote-on-house-speaker/2996566.html