1. The Constitution only says that the House of Representatives chooses their Speaker it does not elaborate on the job of the Speaker. (Article I Section II)
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html
2. Leadership roles that exist in each house of Congress
- The Constitutional Leadership
- The Speaker of the House: the Constitutional leader of the House of Representatives and the effective leader
-The Majority Leader: Represent the Minority
-The Majority Whip: Count votes on issues and help the majority leader "whip up support"
-The President of the Senate: The Vice President of the United States and can vote in the case of a tie
-The President Pro Tempore: Lead the Senate in the Vice Presidents Absence
- The Party Leadership of the Senate
-The Senate Majority Leader- "real" leader of the United States Senate, responsible for organizing the actives of the Senate
http://etech.northern.edu/blanchak/pols100/pols100lectures/congress.structure.htm
3. If both the Vice President and President were killed then the Speaker of the House becomes President.
4. Longest serving speaker of the house was Samuel Rayburn of Texas, serving for 17 years.
http://history.house.gov/Institution/Firsts-Milestones/Speaker-Fast-Facts/
5. Nancy Pelosi of California became the first speaker of the house in 2007.
http://history.house.gov/Institution/Firsts-Milestones/Speaker-Fast-Facts/
6. Newt Gingrich is famous for leading the so called republican revolution in the 90s, had to resign the speakership because of an ethics violation and served for 4 years from 1995-1999.
http://www.biography.com/people/newt-gingrich-9311969#republican-revolution
7. John Boehner just reigned from Speaker of the House, he served from 2011-2015. The reason for his resignation as said in The New York TImes, "
For Mr. Boehner, who has been pressured throughout his tenure to push for deeper spending cuts and more aggressive policy changes than were possible with President Obama in the White House, seemed both exhausted by the fight and yet at peace with his final move: to leave rather than face a potentially humiliating fight within his party. “My first job as speaker is to protect the institution,” Mr. Boehner said. “It had become clear to me that this prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable harm to the institution.”." He did not feel that he could control the people and wanted to avoid government shut down.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/26/us/john-boehner-to-resign-from-congress.html?_r=0
8. Kevin McCarty was considered Boehners likely successor, but he is too moderate for many people. The conservatives would continuously challenge him and thought he wouldn't be able to lead through that total chaos to come.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/mccarthy-asked-how-he-will-differ-boehner-i-wont-be-tanned
9. Many republicans hope that Paul Ryan will enter the race for speaker because he is highly conservative. He is most likely not going to run.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/paul-ryan-house-speaker-pleas-214586
10. Paul Ryan is the chair of the Committee of the Budget and they determine how the money is spent and then summit the budget.
http://budget.house.gov
11. A congressional committee is a legislative sub-orgnaization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty. There are over 50 communities in congress and over 100 if subcommittees are included
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_committee
12. He is not likely to run for speaker because he eventually wants to run for President and the transition from Speaker of the House to President is much harder than Congressman to President.
13. I understand his reasoning for not wanting to take the Speaker job however I can see the flaws in his plan. He one day wants to become President and that is whats stopping him from taking the job, however he has so much of a following now for speaker and might not have that following when he runs for President. If he runs for Speaker now and gets it he has a relatively high job in politics but if he waits and runs for President he would have an even higher job in politics but also risks not getting the job. I think I would take the Speaker job if I was in Paul Ryan's shoes.
14. The Speaker of the House is second in line of succession for Presidency after the Vice President, so in a way it is a stepping stone to the white house but only a small chance of actually getting to the white house from that position. One speaker of the house has ever risen to presidency, James K. Polk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives
15. The congressional caucus
is a group of members of the United States Congress that meets to pursue common legislative objectives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_caucus. There are 76 caucuses'. A caucus is an organization while a committee is legislative and government based. http://capuano.house.gov/issues/committees.shtml.
16. The House Freedom Caucus is a "congressional caucus consisting of conservative Republican members of the United States House of Representatives." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Caucus. It gives a voice to the people who feel like they are not represented by Washington. They are voicing they're thoughts and opinions on who they believe should become the next Speaker of the House. The House Freedom Caucus wants a conservative speaker and someone that can give them more of a say. http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/10/10/447464699/what-kind-of-speaker-does-the-house-freedom-caucus-want
