Jordan: American People ‘Are Demanding a Shakeup’; They Think ‘We Have Betrayed Them’
WALLACE: “But if Paul Ryan won’t agree, and we’re going to talk to Newt Gingrich in a moment, that considerable decentralization of power in the House, will you and other members of the caucus support him?”
JORDAN: “I think he will agree to that. I think the next speaker has to agree to that because this place has got to change. The American people, 60 percent of our voters, Chris, think we have betrayed them -- not disappointed, not slightly off-track, we’ve betrayed them. We need a shake-up now. This is exactly what the people are demanding. So, I think the next speaker will want to make those kind of changes. Think about that Steering Committee again for a second. On the Steering Committee, the speaker gets to vote five times. So, if Chris Wallace is a member of Congress and he is on the Steering Committee, you would get one vote, but the speaker gets to vote five times. Now, where in the world does that kind of format work? We never see that anywhere else. So, that’s the kind of stuff that has to change.”
WALLACE: “Congressman, let me ask you about the issue, because some members of your caucus are already raising questions about Ryan even before he decides to run. They talk about the fact he was working at one point to try to create a compromise on comprehensive immigration reform. They say he’s like Boehner, in that he also would oppose measures that would end of leading to a government shutdown or a default on our national debt. How big a problem are those positions that Ryan has taken?”
JORDAN: “Look, as I said before, Paul Ryan is a friend. I meet with him every single week. We talk about policy. I think he’d be a great messenger. If he’ll come in front of our group and talk to us, I think our group would be favorable towards him. But we’re not there yet. And our position right now is we know Daniel Webster. We know he’s done this in Florida, where he took a model that was so controlled, top-down, centralized kind of power model, he defused that kind of power and empowered the members. So, I think that’s the model we want. I think whoever the next speaker is, Paul Ryan or anyone else, has to go to that kind of model, because that’s the environment that’s going to be most conducive to producing the results we told the voters we’re going to do, to fighting for those Republican principles that we were elected to fight for.”
WALLACE: “Here’s the problem, congressman. Republican establishment types call your group the hell-no caucus, or the suicide caucus, and they say they’re more interested in ideological warfare than you are in governing.”
JORDAN: “No –“
WALLACE: “Well, if I may — let me just finish the question. The fact is you keep talking about the obstacles or the tests you’re going to put up. You’re just 40 members of a 247-member Republican caucus at some point, don’t you and your members have to bow to the will of the majority of Republicans?”
JORDAN: “Of course, we’re willing to compromise, but what we need in the House, what I think the American people are demanding, what our voters are demanding is let’s not forfeit for the White House before the ref blows the whistle. Let’s not forfeit before the game start. Let’s establish our position, come together, compromise, figure out what we can agree on and let ‘go stand for that position, let’s articulate that, let’s have the debate in a compelling way and take the case to the White House, take the case to the United States Senate. That’s what our voters expect. It seems all too often, though, we say the president is demanding this, we have to give in before the game even starts. That’s what the next speaker has to do. That’s what we want to see in our next speaker. That’s what we’re pushing for. Of course we understand we have to compromise. But when we compromise to come up with a position, let’s go fight for it.”
