Florida GOP representatives Clay Shaw, Mario Diaz-Balart, Jeff Miller, Katherine Harris and Rick Keller sent the following letter Tuesday to House Speaker Dennis Hastert calling for earlier leadership elections for Majority Leader:
We strongly believe the Republican Conference should return to Washington prior to the President's State of the Union Address to elect our new Republican leaders. We believe that Republican leadership elections should not overshadow or interfere with the President's message to the nation.
We are also asking for you to consider earlier leadership elections so that this Republican Congress can immediately commence with the good work we began in 2005 and can move forward with the clear, focused and ambitions agenda that you have laid out for the second session.
It is tremendously important that we conduct leadership elections prior to the second session in order to communicate a vision for our nation during this time of transition. From lobbying reform to tax reform to immigration reform, we certainly have a busy session ahead of us with important goals to accomplish.
Now more than ever, the Congress needs to be vigilant and focused on the issues important to American families.
