Rep. Jason Chaffetz supports Rep. Paul Ryan, wouldn't challenge speaker run

Rep. Jason Chaffetz supports Rep. Paul Ryan, wouldn't challenge speaker run

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SALT LAKE CITY — Rep. Jason Chaffetz would get behind Rep. Paul Ryan for speaker of the U.S. House if the Wisconsin Republican decides to run under mounting pressure from his colleagues.

"I would not run against Paul Ryan," Chaffetz told reporters in Washington after a Republican House Conference meeting Friday.

"If Paul Ryan gets into the race, of course I would support him. He'd be the kind of person I could get excited about," he said. "Part of the reason I got into the race is because people like Paul Ryan weren't stepping up to do it."

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., abruptly dropped his bid to replace Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, on Thursday, leaving Chaffetz and Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla., as the only declared candidates. Others might jump in.

"I'm not afraid of competition," Chaffetz said. "I've always argued there should be more people in the race not less."

A number of Republicans are pressing Ryan, who has repeatedly said he doesn't want the job, to run, and he is apparently considering it.

Ryan told several members on the House floor Friday of his deliberations, Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, told CNN. Stewart added that he urged Ryan to run, with the Wisconsin Republican replying that he was "thinking and praying on it."

Stewart and Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, had pledged to support Chaffetz but said Thursday they wanted to see what happens with the race. Ryan is assigned as Love's mentor in Congress.

Chaffetz called Ryan the "most qualified" person to be speaker, but said he hasn't talked to him.

Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney also thinks his former running mate would make a good speaker. The two talked on the phone Friday.

"I wouldn't presume to tell Paul what to do, but I do know that he is a man of ideas who is driven to see them applied for the public good," Romney said in a statement after their call.

"Paul has a driving passion to get America back on a path of growth and opportunity. With Paul, it's not just words, it's in his heart and soul."

GOP lawmakers from Boehner and McCarthy on down were on the Ryan bandwagon, the only figure in the House seen as having the stature, wide appeal and intelligence to lead Republicans out of the mess they're in, according to the Associated Press.

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"He'd be an amazing speaker," McCarthy declared to a bank of TV cameras after Republicans met behind closed doors to discuss their predicament. "But he's got to decide."

Not long after, Ryan rushed out of the Capitol, refusing to talk to reporters. With Congress heading into a weeklong recess, he was on his way home to Janesville, Wisconsin, to his wife and young family.

Ryan's spokesman, Brendan Buck, said, "Chairman Ryan appreciates the support he's getting from his colleagues but is still not running for speaker."

Why not? Possible reasons include the presidential ambitions he may well still harbor. The speaker's post, highly prestigious and second in line to the presidency, requires a huge commitment of time and effort in corralling a party's House members. It is not on anyone's tactical roadmap to the White House, according to AP.

Chaffetz said Boehner is still committed to electing a new speaker by the end of the month.

"I think we'll get it right. The world will still function. Congress will still function," he said.

As the four-term Utah congressman continues to make a push for speaker, he's getting some surprising flak from a fellow Republican.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who Chaffetz succeeded as chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said the Utah congressman isn't the fighter he once was.

"Jason's a good man, an honorable man, but he got his job by going to Boehner and saying he would shut down that rancor that was going on, he would go along, get along — and he has done that," Issa told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Friday.

The oversight panel hasn't published a single committee report or staff report since Chaffetz took over the job, he added.

"The fact is, he's a good guy, but whatever he was as a freshman, when he was a fighter on our committee, when he was trying to hold government accountable, he took a break from that," Issa said. "And I think that's going to hurt him."

As Oversight Committee chairman, Chaffetz has launched investigations into Planned Parenthood, the Environmental Protection Agency, the IRS and the Secret Service.

Contributing: Associated Press

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