Burgess to challenge McCotter for GOP leadership spot

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) will challenge current
House Republican Conference Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.)
for the position, he announced Wednesday.

{mosads}“The Policy Committee provides a platform for Republican
ideas to be introduced, improved and communicated within the GOP conference and
to the public at large,” Burgess said in a statement. “We must maximize this
platform if we want to regain the majority.”

Burgess said the “Republican ship needs righting” and
that the party needed to recapture that mantra.

“Under my leadership of the House Republican Policy
Committee, I will spend every day working to meet that expectation,” he added.

Early Wednesday morning, McCotter told The Hill that the
2008 election indicated that the Republican Party needed more than a re-brand,
and that without an unpopular president the party could begin to rebuild.

“I think it was the second shoe to fall; the first was in
2006,” he said. “We are now free.”