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We agree with U.S. Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-Howard, and U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Dallas: The decision to oust House Speaker is a missed opportunity to focus on important issues and a "distraction."
Now, with a slightly postponed deadline to resolve the nation's budget or endure a federal shutdown in mid-November -- right before families are confronted with the stresses and expenses of the holiday season -- the House of Representatives must also determine who will preside over their chamber.
We are not advocating capitulation and immediate compromise -- we recognize that, with a national debt of about $33.5 trillion, that tactics and strategies and measures that may have, in the past, seemed extreme -- like complicating the annual budget process to procure significant reductions in the spending that drives that debt -- will become increasingly necessary.
But we can't see how attempting to replace U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., improves the ability to negotiate deeper spending cuts or a better path to energy independence or improved border security. It is a divisive stance -- as seen in the reactions of our congressional delegation -- that splits the caucus that needs to be unified in pursuing those policies.
We hope the matter of who serves as House Speaker can be quickly resolved so that the conservatives in the U.S. House can focus instead on fighting for those priorities instead of fighting each other.