Colorado Springs Gazette: PERSPECTIVE: Rep. Boebert discusses her tactics in Congress

After winning reelection by 546 votes, Colorado’s Third Congressional District Rep. Lauren Boebert led a minority effort to block U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-California, from becoming speaker of the House — a role second only to the vice presidency in succession to the presidency. She and 19 other Republicans, largely following her lead, held out for major concessions reducing the speaker’s authority and changing congressional processes. The board questioned Boebert last week about the controversial crusade and presents the discussion here.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert: I saw the editorial that came out (in The Gazette) and maybe my positions weren’t quite understood. While you’re in the middle of a poker match, you don’t show your cards. So, there were negotiations that were taking place. This is not something that any of us wanted to take public or to become a public showdown on the House floor. We started negotiations last summer, and we weren’t taken very seriously in the summer with those meetings because there was supposed to be a massive red wave and a handful of people who had concerns about the way Congress operates didn’t matter much. I criticized both parties for centralizing power at the top in Congress, and we were working diligently to decentralize that power and empower each individual member of Congress more. And one of those things started with the motion to vacate. This is something that I brought to Kevin McCarthy’s attention early on. This is something that we’ve had for almost 200 years. Thomas Jefferson wrote the motion to vacate, and this gives each individual member a check and a balance on the speaker, the second in line to the presidency (after the vice president). We saw (Democratic former House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi change that after almost 200 years of having the motion to vacate.

Read Lauren’s full interview with the Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board.

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