Boehner may let dissenters off the hook

His allies could be disappointed again this time, even after more than two dozen House members crossed Boehner in Tuesday’s speaker election.

Some lawmakers and aides close to Boehner say Rep. Richard Nugent (R-Fla.) might win back his prized seat on the elite, speaker-appointed Rules Committee, and Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) may even get to chair subcommittees on other panels, even though all three voted against Boehner. Senior GOP leadership aides say no final decisions have been made, but the prospect of letting the dissenters off easy is galling to some of the speaker’s closest allies, who want blood — and seem angry he isn’t willing to spill it.

“We need to get to the bottom of the guys who voted against [procedural motions], and we need to understand why they voted against that, and then we need to know why people voted against the speaker yesterday,” said Rep. Devin Nunes, the California Republican whom Boehner installed as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. “Name calling — saying ‘RINO’ and ‘establishment’ – that’s name calling,” Nunes said. “We need to understand why they voted the way they did.”