Marsha Blackburn: New GOP Leadership Needs to Represent Its Constituents

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Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, a potential candidate for Speaker of the House, says it’s time the House of Representatives to begin prioritizing the interests of its constituents– the American people.

“What the American people want us to do is to deliver for them,” Blackburn declared in an exclusive interview on Breitbart News Sunday SiriusXM Radio. “What they’re looking to is the House to be the agenda setters. So that is where our focus should be and ought to be. And to represent what our constituents want to see we need to put the options and ideas on the table and turn that into legislation and pass it.”

According to a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, an astounding 72 percent of Republican primary voters are dissatisfied with current Republican leadership.

One of Republican voters’ many frustrations with its leadership is not only that GOP leadership fails to advance conservative priorities, but that it often engages in elaborately staged Kabuki theatre to ensure that Republican donors’ agenda is enacted—even if it comes at the expense of the economic and physical security of everyday voters.

While Democrat donors and leaders seem to fight hard to pursue the priorities of their progressive base (such as mass immigration, expanding welfare, etc.), Republican donors and leaders frequently work against the interests of the Republican base.

For instance, while Republican voters—and the vast majority of Americans in general—want to see immigration slashed, this position is opposed by Republican donors and party leaders. Not one Republican leader in the House or Senate is willing to reduce immigration levels. Moreover, the Washington establishment’s pick for House Speaker, Paul Ryan, has a two decades long history of working to implement open borders. As pro-amnesty GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehitnen said during the Gang of Eight amnesty fight, Paul Ryan worked “every day” to push Sen. Marco Rubio’s immigration expansion plan in to law.

By contrast, Marsha Blackburn led the fight with Sen. Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions to defund President Obama’s lawless executive amnesty.

Blackburn said that she hopes the leadership shake-up will result in more representation for conservative members so that the House’s legislative agenda is no longer merely, “a decision of the few.”

What you need to see is representation from each of those different sectors… the Freedom Caucus, the Liberty Caucus—everyone having input on the way you structure the agenda. The things that are going to be the priority items and that that is done as a decision of the body instead of a decision of the few. That is, as we have talked amongst ourselves about changes that should be made, that’s one of those that should be made. That is very healthy. Different areas of the country and different bents of the party—this is a growing pains type problem that you are seeing right now…. Because it’s such a big tent, there is such a wide array of opinion and all of those opinions are welcome. What we need to do is make certain that they are not only welcome and heard but that they are there as a part of action.

Blackburn concluded, “These are changes we need to consider and need to make.”

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