On Thursday afternoon members of the House will vote for the Speaker of the 113th Congress. Everyone’s vote for speaker is public like most House votes. Given the criticism of current House Speaker John Boehner (R – OH), some are calling for the vote to be a secret ballot, so members of his party will not face retribution, should they vote for someone other than Boehner. The Tea Party Patriots put out a press release Thursday morning calling for the vote for the Speaker to be a secret ballot.
Martin is not too sure what the chances are that the House will actually vote for Speaker by secret ballot, but stressed to Breitbart News that Boehner does use retribution against those who defy him.
The roll call vote for Speaker, like all roll calls, will be done in alphabetical order. This means some of the first Republicans voting would be Rep. Robert Aderholt (R – AL), Rep. Rodney Alexander (R – LA), Rep. Justin Amash (R – MI), and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R – MN). Momentum in the very beginning is a key issue as to how GOP members who are further down the roll call list will vote.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.