Speaker McCarthy Ousted
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has been ousted. It is the first time in US history Congress has removed its own speaker from office. Florida Republican Matt Gaetz introduced the motion to vacate. He was joined by several Republican hardliners and all the Democrats. The House now faces the chaos and uncertainty of not having a formal leader until a new one is selected. This is a sad, historical first for the US government.
McCarthy's ouster was orchestrated by Florida Republican Matt Gaetz. Gaetz and fellow Republican hardliners were upset at McCarthy over his introduction of a bipartisan spending bill last week- a bill that passed with wide bipartisan support and avoided a messy, chaotic government shutdown. No, that wasn't okay by these hardliners who, as McCarthy described them to the media after one contentious day of debate on September 21, "[J]ust want to burn the whole place down."
Changing the rules for a Motion to Vacate was one of the concessions McCarthy made to win hardliners' support for his speakership.
Even so it took a historic 15 rounds of voting for McCarthy to squeak out enough support within his own party.
Previously a motion to vacate required a majority of the majority party to advance to a full House vote.
With McCarthy's concession that threshold was reduced to one. One. Any one member could call for an end to his speakership, and it would go to the floor for a full vote.
And that's what happened Tuesday. Gaetz made the motion- after McCarthy, obvious miscounting his support, taunted, "Bring it on". Gaetz was joined by 7 other Republican hardliners (out of a loose conference of somewhere around 20) and all the Democrat representatives for a majority to vote McCarthy out.
Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC) is now Interim Speaker of the House. Notably that role does not hold power to lead the daily business of Congress. McHenry's powers are limited to overseeing the selection of a new Speaker.
And who will the new Speaker be? No credible Republican member has put themself forward. One has nominated Donald Trump. (The rules of Congress do not require that the Speaker be a member of Congress.) And Marjorie Taylor Green has announced that Trump is the “the only candidate for Speaker I am currently supporting.” We'll see what happens in this chaotic process.
McCarthy's ouster was orchestrated by Florida Republican Matt Gaetz. Gaetz and fellow Republican hardliners were upset at McCarthy over his introduction of a bipartisan spending bill last week- a bill that passed with wide bipartisan support and avoided a messy, chaotic government shutdown. No, that wasn't okay by these hardliners who, as McCarthy described them to the media after one contentious day of debate on September 21, "[J]ust want to burn the whole place down."
Changing the rules for a Motion to Vacate was one of the concessions McCarthy made to win hardliners' support for his speakership.
Even so it took a historic 15 rounds of voting for McCarthy to squeak out enough support within his own party.
Previously a motion to vacate required a majority of the majority party to advance to a full House vote.
With McCarthy's concession that threshold was reduced to one. One. Any one member could call for an end to his speakership, and it would go to the floor for a full vote.
And that's what happened Tuesday. Gaetz made the motion- after McCarthy, obvious miscounting his support, taunted, "Bring it on". Gaetz was joined by 7 other Republican hardliners (out of a loose conference of somewhere around 20) and all the Democrat representatives for a majority to vote McCarthy out.
Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC) is now Interim Speaker of the House. Notably that role does not hold power to lead the daily business of Congress. McHenry's powers are limited to overseeing the selection of a new Speaker.
And who will the new Speaker be? No credible Republican member has put themself forward. One has nominated Donald Trump. (The rules of Congress do not require that the Speaker be a member of Congress.) And Marjorie Taylor Green has announced that Trump is the “the only candidate for Speaker I am currently supporting.” We'll see what happens in this chaotic process.