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Texas Rep. Gohmert to challenge Boehner for House speaker post

Gohmert

Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert said Sunday that he will challenge House Speaker John Boehner for his post when Congress returns this week to Washington.
Gohmert, among the House Republican caucus’ most conservative members, made the announcement on “Fox & Friends,” saying he decided to run after Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., said Saturday that he would challenge Boehner for the chamber’s top post.
“We have heard from a lot of Republicans that said, ‘I would vote for somebody besides speaker Boehner.’ But nobody will put their name out there,” Gohmert said. “That changed yesterday with Ted Yoho.”
Gohmert also hinted that another House member will announce a challenge to Boehner on Sunday.
Boehner once again returns to Capitol Hill amid challenges to keep his post, largely from the conservative members who most recently say he caved in by agreeing last month to a $1.1 trillion temporary federal spending bill, which averted another partial government shutdown.
Group members complained in part because they think Boehner did not try to punish President Obama enough for sidestepping Congress on immigration reform.
“After the November elections gave Republicans control of the Senate, voters made clear they wanted change,” Gohmert said. “We were hopeful our leaders got the voters’ message. However, after our speaker forced through the (spending bill) by passing it with Democratic votes and without time to read it, it seemed clear that we needed new leadership."
A Boehner spokesman said Sunday that the speaker was selected in November as the House Republican Conference's choice and that "he expects to be elected by the whole House this week.”
Gohmert, during an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Friday, said his party must use its power in the House to defund Obama’s immigration plan as well as ObamaCare. He also said the GOP must stop excessive government regulation, citing the Keystone pipeline.

Huckabee leaves Fox News, says will make 2016 decision by late spring

Fox News host and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced Saturday that he is leaving the network after six and a half years as the host of “Huckabee,” and will make a decision on a possible 2016 presidential run by late spring.
In the Saturday edition of “Huckabee,” the former governor expressed thanks for what he called “the ride of a lifetime.”
"I have never had so much fun in my life,” Huckabee said. "But I also realize that God hasn't put me on earth just to have a good time or to make a good living, but rather has put me on earth to try to make a good life.”
Huckabee said that he would not rule out running for president in 2016, and that it is not possible for him to openly determine political and financial support to justify a race while doing the show.
“The honorable thing to do at this point is to end my tenure here at Fox.  As much as I have loved doing the show, I cannot bring myself to rule out another presidential run,” Huckabee said. “So as we say in television, stay tuned."
Huckabee served more than a decade as Arkansas' governor and ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, the year that the GOP nominated Arizona Sen. John McCain.

GOP Senate leaders say they are willing to work with Obama in new Congress, but he must 'play ball'

Senate Republicans on Sunday, just hours from taking control of the chamber, suggested a willingness to work with President Obama on job growth and other key issues but also said he must meet them halfway.
“There are a lot of areas where we can work together right out of the gate,” South Dakota GOP Sen. John Thune told “Fox News Sunday.” “You always enter a new session of Congress with high hopes…We want to see solutions for the American people. And we hope the president will meet us there.”
Thune, the incoming chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said Republican leadership has set an early goal of trying to pass legislation with bipartisan support, such as a bill to complete the Keystone XL pipeline.
Though Senate Republicans seem optimistic about passing Keystone swiftly to perhaps set the tone for the entire session, Thune hinted that Obama and fellow Democrats might define the direction in Washington if the legislation doesn’t pass with a veto-proof majority and if the president fails to sign the bill.   
“We're going to get an indication of how this president wants to govern in the last two years and how he wants to work with Republicans in Congress,” Thune said. "We're going to find out very early, I think, whether or not the president wants to play ball."
Thune also made clear that Senate Republicans will not shut down the Department of Homeland Security, whose funding expires in February, over differences with Obama about immigration reform, particularly his use of executive action to delay deportation for millions of immigrants now living illegally in the United States.
However, he said congressional Republicans would use “the power of the purse to challenge the president."
Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also on Sunday appeared to strike a more compromising tone.
He told CNN’s “State of the Union” that voters continue to elect candidates from both parties because they want government that “gets things done in the political center, things that both sides can agree on.”
McConnell said both sides would “talk about the things where there may be some agreement.”
But he made clear that Obama is “not going to like” some of the bills that will now reach his desk -- likely including Keystone, rolling back environmental restrictions and repealing parts of ObamaCare.
He also said Americans “want us to look for things to agree on and see if we can make some progress for the country," comments similar to those he made after nearly losing a re-election bid in November.
Tennessee GOP Sen. Bob Corker told Fox News that Republicans "absolutely need (Obama) to be involved” on big issues. 
"We look forward to that opportunity," said Corker, who becomes chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
However, Corker said Congress must have a bigger role in negotiating with Iran to end its apparent pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
“This is one of the biggest issues we'll be dealing with,” he said. “And for Congress not to have a role is totally inappropriate.”
He said that without question more sanctions will be imposed on Iran if the existing deal falls apart.
Corker also said that Congress, like Obama, realizes that changes must come to the U.S. prison facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but suggested the president has only a piecemeal plan, which included transferring 28 detainees out of the facility last year.  
However, he did not say whether congressional Republicans would try to block an attempt by the president to shutter the facility.
“If he tries to close it on his own, we'll see,” Corker said.

Afghanistan president suggests US 're-examine' troop withdrawal timetable

Afghanistan's president has suggested that the U.S. "re-examine" its plan to withdraw all of the American-led coalition troops from the country by the end of 2016. 
"Deadlines concentrate the mind. But deadlines should not be dogmas," Ashraf Ghani told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview that aired Sunday evening. 
"If both parties, or, in this case, multiple partners, have done their best to achieve the objectives and progress is very real, then there should be willingness to re-examine a deadline," he added.
When asked if he had made his view clear to President Barack Obama, Ghani said "President Obama knows me. We don't need to tell each other."
There was no immediate response from the White House, State Department, or Pentagon to Ghani's remarks Sunday night. 
The U.S. and its NATO allies marked the formal end of the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan last week. On Thursday, 13,500 soldiers of the International Security Assistance Force, almost 11,000 of them American, transitioned to a supporting role for Afghanistan's military. 
The handover of primary responsibility for battling the Taliban represents the ultimate test for the 350,000 strong Afghan army. Critics have long questioned the local troops' morale, discipline, and competence in the face of Taliban attacks. According to a United Nations report, 2014 was the deadliest year on record for non-combatants in Afghanistan, with at least 3,188 civilians killed in the intensifying war. By comparison, at least 4,600 members of the Afghan security forces were killed by fighting last year. 
Ghani also told CBS that he was concerned about the possibility that Islamic State fighters could make their way to Afghanistan. However, that concern was refuted by ISAF commander Gen. John Campbell, who said that "This is not Iraq. I don't see [Islamic State] coming into Afghanistan like they did into Iraq. The Afghan Security Forces would not allow that."
Campbell also described the Afghan National Army as "the number one respected institution in Afghanistan. Couple years ago, I probably wouldn't have said that, but today it is."