Palmer withdraws from Speaker’s race: lists five commitments for the next Speaker of the House

On Tuesday, Congressman Gary Palmer (R-AL06) released a statement announcing that he has withdrawn his name from consideration for Speaker of the House.

“Congress and the American people needed a Republican Speaker three weeks ago,” Palmer said in a statement. “If withdrawing my name can help expedite that process even a little, then I will gladly step aside. The candidate forum and individual conversations have given me great hope for the future of the 118th Congress. All the candidates are committed to ideas similar to the principles I laid out last night. We must bring stability back to the House of Representatives, and we do that by passing our spending bills on time, providing real spending cuts, not passing short-term CRs, allowing members time to read legislation, and uniting the conference before going to the House floor. These principles will truly transform how this place works and ensure it works for the benefit of the American people.”

“I will work with the next speaker on the ideas I have laid out so Congress can come together and do the job the American people sent us here to do. With this in mind, I am withdrawing my name from consideration for Speaker.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Palmer released a list of five commitments he is asking the next speaker to make.

Palmer released the policy outline less than an hour before the House Republican Conference went into a closed-door session to vote on who would be the next nominee for Speaker of the House. Palmer was one of nine Republicans to declare their candidacy for the vacant position.

The five commitments include a commitment to fund the government with 12 individual spending bills by June 30; forcing “real spending cuts” and not “budget gimmicks;” refusing to pass any more short-term stopgap funding bills; giving members 72 hours to read a bill before it reaches the House floor for an up or down vote; and requiring sure that the GOP conference is on the same page before holding a House-wide vote.

“Congress has been kicking the can down the road since before I was elected,” Palmer said. “We don’t need a person or a personality, we need a plan.”

Palmer and the other eight candidates presented their cases to the House Republican Conference in a closed-door forum on Monday night. On Tuesday morning, the GOP Congressmembers will vote on their nominee. Once the GOP selects a nominee, a vote of the full House could come as soon as Tuesday afternoon. The difficulty has not been getting the nomination; the problem has been getting 217 Republican Congress members to vote for the Republican nominee.

The last GOP nominee, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), never got more than 200 votes in his three House floor votes. A coalition of moderate and more mainstream Republicans opposed the ultra-conservative Jordan because they thought the former Freedom Caucus Chairman was too divisive. The previous nominee, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), got the nomination but could not get the support of Jordan-supporting Freedom Caucus Republicans. On October 3, then Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-California) was ousted when eight Republicans who objected to aid for Ukraine led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) voted with Democrats to oust the Speaker.

Palmer supported Jim Jordan on all three House floor votes. He also voted in favor of McCarthy.

Whoever wins the Speaker’s nomination must somehow get all the squabbling Republican factions to unite.

If a third GOP nominee fails, the GOP conference could repeat this process with new candidates next week.

Palmer is a native of Hackleburg, where his father was a small farmer and logger. He has some American Indian heritage. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama. He and Tom Parker cofounded the Alabama Policy Institute – a conservative think tank outside Birmingham. Palmer headed the Alabama Policy Institute for 24 years until he ran for Congress. Palmer is serving in his fifth term representing Alabama’s Sixth Congressional District.

To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com