From staff, AP reports
news@joplinglobe.com
U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt announced Thursday that he will not seek re-election as minority whip in the U.S. House of Representatives next year.
The lawmaker from the 7th District of Missouri has held the No. 2 Republican post in the House since 2003. He cited the loss of GOP seats in the House as among the reasons for his decision.
“I can best contribute to our efforts to regain the majority and advance the interest of the American people in a different role in the 111th Congress,” Blunt wrote in a letter sent to Republicans in Congress, then released by his office.
The GOP lost more than 20 House seats in Tuesday’s election, after a loss of 30 seats in the 2006 election.
Blunt said he decided two years ago that if Republicans were not successful in recapturing the majority in 2008, he would step down from the post, which focuses on gathering support for GOP legislation and initiatives. He said he wrote himself a letter in January 2007 that he left unopened on his desk until Wednesday.
“I wrote that it was my intention to spend the next two years holding the Democrats accountable and defining the differences between our parities,” the letter to his colleagues stated. “I also wrote that, were we not successful in recapturing the majority in 2008, it was my intention to serve only two years as minority whip.”
Blunt said he still believes that conservative ideas “define where the country wants to be and needs to be,” and that Republicans held the Democrats accountable and began to define some of the differences between the two parties.
He praised Republican efforts against “a flawed expansion of government-run health care” in the SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) bill; in support of the surge in Iraq; and in “common sense solutions” to the nation’s energy crisis.
Blunt’s announcement avoids an intraparty battle for the seat with Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican. Cantor has been Blunt’s chief deputy since 2003, and announced Wednesday that he would seek the post of GOP whip.
Blunt, 58, said it’s time for a new generation of Republicans to assume leadership roles. Cantor is 45.
He becomes the second Republican to step down from a leadership role in the wake of Tuesday’s election. House Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam, of Florida, announced earlier he would not seek another term.
Blunt bio
Roy Blunt served 12 years at Greene County clerk and eight years as Missouri secretary of state. He was first elected to Congress in 1996.
