“Shocking Republicans: We Don’t Need a Speaker!

Now that Paul Ryan has announced his impending retirement as Speaker of the House, the future of the GOP majority has come into question overnight. The fate of the party’s agenda, leadership, and even potential impeachment hearings hang in the balance. However, some Republican lawmakers have spoken out to say that there are 100 representatives in the party without a true leader – and that they don’t even need one. These legislators flew in the face of the longstanding party establishment by voicing their opinion that the GOP doesn’t actually need a Speaker. Utah’s Rob Bishop, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, told the New York Times, “We don’t need a Speaker as much I think as the media wants us to think we need one.” Texas’ Joe Barton, a former House Republican Majority leader, echoed Bishop’s sentiment, saying, “I don’t even think it’s absolutely essential that we have one.” These lawmakers’ reasoning is that the Republicans in the House have a unified platform, and operate largely by committee. Thus, any single individual atop the GOP hierarchy could get bogged down in too much bureaucracy, while a committee system keeps the proceedings running smoothly. Even without a speaker, the Republican party has been able to pass legislation and even achieve landmark events like tax cuts. In the opinion of these legislators, the GOP simply doesn’t need a speaker if it already works this well. Whether or not the Republican majority in the House will hold up in the upcoming years without a leader at the top is yet to be seen. However, with multiple party members voicing a need for the more oft-challenging committee system, it appears the GOP could move forward without a speaker.