Boehner appoints woman to chair a committee
(CNN) - House Speaker John Boehner named Rep. Candice Miller of Michigan as the chairman of the House Administration Committee on Friday, three days after the Republican conference took heat for electing only males as committee heads.
"From ensuring the House runs efficiently and smoothly, to making Congress more open and accessible, Candice has a big job ahead as chairman of the House Administration Committee," Boehner said in the statement.
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Miller had originally run to lead the Homeland Security Committee, but lost out to Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas. While other committee chairs are elected by the entire GOP conference, the House Administration Committee chair is appointed by the speaker.
In a statement, Miller said she is "both humbled and honored" by the appointment.
"This committee has the responsibility to ensure that the House runs in an effective and efficient manner which is vital as we work to meet the many challenges facing this great nation," she said.
Miller is currently not on the committee she will soon chair. Rep. Gregg Harper of Mississippi was next in line to take the position and was widely expected to get the chairmanship.
On Wednesday, Boehner set off an outcry among Democrats when he announced that 19 males were recommended to steer the committees. Critics cited the decision as another hurdle the GOP faces as it aims to become a more inclusive party.
On the Democratic side women and minority groups will outnumber males overall for the first time in history.
Republican women, however, aren't totally left out in terms of House leadership positions. Earlier this month, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington became leader of the Republican Conference, the fourth ranking GOP spot in the House. Rep. Lynn Jenkins of Kansas will serve as vice-chairman and Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina will serve as secretary of the conference.
The chair of the House Ethics Committee has yet to be announced.
- CNN's Ashley Killough and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.
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OMG! They got one! One.
Ah, the housekeeping committee. Why not Appropriations? Or Defense? Or Homeland Security? Transportation? Something with power.
Is that "Home care".
LMBAO.................OMG, a female????????????????? what the heck is really going on here?
I hope Bonehead realizes that he will have to be flexible and let this woman go home early to cook dinner just like Mitt said. Egads, why any working woman with an education and half a brain would be a Republican is beyond me. I guess Repug women enjoy a life of always being in second or third place no matter what they achieve. What a horrible message the Repug party is sending to young women in college. Maybe we need to start burning our bras again!
Remember the GOP will always be the OLD WHITE GUYS party. Nothing short of desolving the party will change that.
Rep. Candice Miller of Michigan appointment will not changee that.
Nice after thought. 2 bad she's not latino or ethnic. Could hv been 2 birds w one stone. Oh well, better luck next time. Opps, wait, there wont b a next time! Lmfao
Can b worse than bachmann sitting on intellegence committee. Those 2 words n the same sentence, i cant help but laugh!
@Jack
Ah, the housekeeping committee. Why not Appropriations? Or Defense? Or Homeland Security? Transportation? Something with power.
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Ummmmm.... Maybe she's not qualified.......?
"See, Republicans don't hate women... they hired 1. A whole 1!"
I beg to differ. She's not "all there."
50+ years after Civil Rights and 40+ years after Womens Rights, discrimination is alive and well in America. The Repuglican party is devoted to making it so. What a nice Token she will be so that they can pretend to be inclusive. This must be part of their new messaging and voter outreach program. How's it working for ya so far girls?
So she's picked to chair a committee she's not even on? Pretty laughable! All the members of the House Administration Committee were white men – and the only reason Boehner picked her was because the GOP is trying to be more "inclusive" and "diverse" ... like anyone going to fall for this!
@ FREEDOM...
after reading your post I have an idea that you are NOT a woman. Am I right? Most GOP men have no problem telling their women what to do, how to think, where to go..ect.
If Miller were a Democrat, Limbaugh, Fox and all the haters on the right would be talking about how masculine and overweight she is, regardless of her qualifications for the job and how the only reason she was given the position was because she's a woman.
One thing I will say here that's pretty neutral: As much fun as it is to criticize the GOP/Teatrolls' first clumsy steps into the land of the unbiggotted...their first tenative attempts to try to behave according to contemporary mores and, at least implicitly, admit that they need to change...as much fun as that is, we should be careful not to discourage them, even when the attempts, like this one, are borderline silly.
The Repubs have a female? Did they have to look in Romney's binders full of women?
if the dummy from KY wants to laugh at something this IS IT!!!
Does bo ner and the rethugs think that appointing this woman to what sounds like a second class jobthat a monkey can do is going to bring women in to the party of heck no and no rights for women or anyone else that is not the 2%?
You have collins who sounds as if she can't think straight (I apologize if she really has a mental problem) then you have ayotte who stands behind the mcnasty old man and ms lindsay like a wronged woman until she was allowed to speak gibberish and now this woman?
One thing about the party of heck no . . . . they are funny. Not funny in a good way but just funny in the head funny.
are they still trying to pull the wool over our eyes?
They are definitely planning for 2016. They got Ted Cruz and Rubio for the Latino vote, now Candace Miller for the white females. I wonder who they will trot out for the blacks?? Call Michael Steele back?? I truly doubt it will be Herman Cain...... Maybe Allen West??? ROFLMBAO!!
They could bring in 10 of every minority, and I still wouldn't trust them. Their base is poison, all you have to do is read their internet postings. But I'm sure many will fall for it. After all some people love for others to "Tell em what they want to hear."
As part of Republican tradition, the female Committee Chair will now be given her honorary kitchen, stocked with the finest appliances and an oven mitt and apron in the color of her choice (of course, the only option is red.)
This is another example of GOP/Tea Party tokenism and lip service, like placing a very few minorities on the National Convention stage while the audience is 99.9% wihite. While women make up more than half the electorate, they are less than 20% of the GOP/Tea Party caucus membership.
@Getoverit
You say she might not be qualified to head the other committees, remember this is the repub party , look at who they have sitting on and heading the Science and Tech committee, some of them believe the earth is only 6000 years old, dont believe in evolution, some wanted to remove funding from the volcano monitoring service, not launch new upgraded weather satelites to replace satelites that are near their use by date and due to burn up , wont listen to climate scientists, it alright to have doubts about climate science , but many on the committee wont even hear testimony on climate, do you think these people are qualifed to sit on the Science Committee.
lol, Repubs can appoint all the women and minorities they want. But if they dont change their policies and learn to compromise it wont matter and they will lose more elections.
They still haven't elected a woman to chair a committee, this is Boehner's appointment. The very definition of a token female.
Kind of loses something when you are forced to do the right thing under pressure ! What leader in his right mind would not understand, after the rout in the presidential election, that diversity means something ! Typical mentality of the leaders of that party.