The Ohio House passed internal rules and can now proceed with its work despite an ongoing fight over power within the fractured GOP supermajority, which spurred competing claims about who’s leading Republicans there, shouting by lawmakers during Tuesday’s session and even talk of a possible lawsuit.
The evident disunity in what would usually be an uneventful vote on rules amplifies questions about how lawmakers there will function in the two-year session that began this month, which will include shaping the next state budget.
Earlier Tuesday, a majority of the GOP members elected Rep. Derek Merrin, of Monclova, as the official leader of the House Republican Caucus and its campaign arm, which also puts him in control of its spending.
Usually the majority caucus chair would be the same person chosen to lead the 99-member House, but Rep. Jason Stephens, of Kitts Hill, previously beat Merrin in the race for the powerful role of speaker, winning the job with support from the 32 Democrats and a smaller segment of the Republicans.
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The division played out again Tuesday as Merrin’s supporters clashed with Stephens in an unsuccessful effort to propose different rules that would reduce some of the speaker’s power and make other changes, including allowing people to carry firearms on the House floor and only having Christian prayers to begin House sessions.
Internal rules were passed by the Ohio House, and now it can proceed with its work despite the power struggle within the GOP supermajority.
(Fox News)
None of those changes were officially proposed before Stephens had lawmakers vote on the rules in a short and fast session. Merrin’s supporters accused Stephens of wrongly denying them a chance to offer their proposals. GOP Rep. Josh Williams, of Oregon, later suggested he might consider suing Stephens because he didn’t get to introduce amendments as he’d intended.
Stephens said that as speaker, he has the power under the Ohio Constitution to decide what comes before the House.
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“I’m the speaker of the House, the head of the Republican caucus, and I’m excited for us to get ready and move forward,” Stephens said. “We now have our House in order.”
Among House Republicans, though, “there’s a lot of people right now who don’t feel like they have a voice,” Merrin…
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