Steve King Blames Boehner For Immigration Chair Snub

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) recently placed blame on Speaker John Boehner for the decision to pass over the hardliner for chairman of a subcommittee post regarding immigration.

"John Boehner isn't very aggressive on immigration," King told National Journal this weekend, adding that the GOP's "Pledge to America," a guiding document for the new era of Republican leadership, provides little language about the issues of immigration or border security. "It's the tiniest section," he told the Journal.

King said the appointment was Boehner's choice alone, but argued that his experience had made him more deserving of the post.

"The speaker holds the big gavel, and he decides who gets the other gavels," King said. "It makes it very clear that it's not a meritocracy."

HuffPost's Elise Foley reported last week:

Having served as ranking member on the subcommittee since 2007, King was expected to be given the chairmanship this year. Instead, Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) selected Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.), another immigration hawk with a slightly lower media profile.

With or without the chair, King said he plans to forge ahead with his own efforts to combat illegal immigration, including a bill that would pick away at the birthright-citizenship guarantees provided by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

"I'm going to be okay with it. I'm going to be okay," King said. "I'll say, 'Sign on to King's anchor baby bill' for example. That's how you get things done ... Then the guy with the gavel hears it."

For more on King's bombastic past, check HuffPost's Jason Linkins' coverage.