FILE - In this July 19, 2011 file photo, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the number three Senate Republican leader, is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. Alexander, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference for four years, said he will step down from his leadership post but remain in the Senate and run for re- election in 2014. (AP Photo/File/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - In this July 19, 2011 file photo, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the number three Senate Republican leader, is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. Alexander, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference for four years, said he will step down from his leadership post but remain in the Senate and run for re- election in 2014. (AP Photo/File/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander said Tuesday he will step down from the ranks of Senate GOP leadership, leaving the No. 3 job in January. He also decided against seeking the No. 2 job of GOP whip.
In a speech to the Senate, the two-term Tennessee lawmaker said quitting the leadership will allow him to focus more on helping a deeply divided Senate ? where 60 votes out of 100 are needed to advance virtually any major legislation ? become a more effective institution. He said he will concentrate on reining in health care spending and job creation.
"Stepping down from the Republican leadership will liberate me to spend more time trying to work toward results on the issues I care the most about," he said.
Alexander, 71, was elected to a second term in 2008. He insisted he will seek re-election in 2014.
In talking about consensus building, Alexander described himself as a "very Republican Republican," but he said senators do their jobs with excessive civility. He rejected the notion that Congress is overly divisive and cited more egregious examples from U.S. history ? Vice President Aaron Burr killing Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in an 1804 duel, Rep. Sam Houston caning an Ohio lawmaker and venomous debates during the Civil War, the Army-McCarthy hearings, Watergate and Vietnam.
"To suggest that we should be more timid in debating the issues is to ignore American history and the purpose of the Senate," Alexander said.
Alexander has always been a GOP loyalist, but in the current Senate GOP caucus ? which is laced with doctrinaire conservatives ? he can often look a lot more moderate. With the retirement of GOP Whip Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Alexander faced the opportunity to try to step up and fill the No. 2 job ? and a potentially divisive race against the Senate GOP campaign chairman John Cornyn of Texas. But Alexander lost a 2006 bid for the powerful post to former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Senate Republicans have become more conservative since then.
Alexander's demurral should ease Cornyn into the whip's post. Meanwhile, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., announced he's running for Alexander's post as chairman of the Republican Conference.
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