Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy is in a political struggle for his life after a right-wing dissident officially filed a petition to have him removed.
Mr. McCarthy commented on social media in response to Matt Gaetz’s action: “Bring it on.” In response, Mr. Gaetz said, “Just did.”
After the Speaker passed a package to fund government agencies with the support of Democrats over the weekend, tensions between the two Republicans reached a breaking point.
A motion to vacate that is so infrequently brought has never before removed a US Speaker.
The measure must be brought up for a vote within two days, although procedural barriers may be employed to prevent that from happening.
The US vice-president comes before the Speaker in the presidential succession. He or she oversees committee assignments, determines the legislative goals for the lower chamber of Congress, and has the power to make or break the White chamber agenda.
Because Florida’s Mr. Gaetz and other ultraconservatives claimed that the US has overspent on assisting Ukraine‘s war with Russia, financing for Ukraine was excluded from the late-Saturday agreement that avoided a government shutdown. This funding totaled $6 billion (£5 billion).
Since leading party rebels in defeating the California congressman’s candidature for the speakership in January and subjecting him to 15 arduous rounds of voting in the chamber, Mr. Gaetz has held the threat of deposing Mr. McCarthy.
McCarthy agreed to a rule change that would have allowed any single legislator to call for a vote to remove the Speaker during the political horse trading that took place before he ultimately won the gavel.
That made the motion to vacate possible.
Mr. Gaetz accused Mr. McCarthy of making a covert agreement with the White House to tuck additional cash for the Ukraine into separate legislation during a speech on the House floor on Monday.
According to Mr. McCarthy, there is “no side deal on Ukraine.”
Gaetz told a group of reporters after submitting the motion to vacate: “Well, I have enough Republicans where, at this stage next week, one of two things will happen.
I’m okay with either outcome, because the American people have a right to know who is in charge of their government, whether Kevin McCarthy becomes Speaker of the House or serves at the Democrats’ pleasure.
When asked by reporters earlier on Monday if his activities were causing the institution to become chaotic, Mr. Gaetz responded, “You talk about anarchy as if it’s me forcing a few votes and submitting a few motions.
Real pandemonium will occur when the American people are forced to endure the austerity measures that will be implemented if our $2 trillion annual deficits persist.
On Monday evening, Mr Gaetz told reporters outside the Capitol that he would consider endorsing Steve Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana who is presently Mr McCarthy’s deputy.
Before Mr. Gaetz’s floor address, Republican Tom McClintock of California denounced the “self-destructive course” of trying to remove the Speaker.
Mr. McClintock said: “I implore my Republican colleagues to look past their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views.” Mr. McClintock did not mention his Florida colleague by name.
The Speaker is obligated by the chamber’s regulations to maintain a list of potential interim replacements in case the position is ever open.
The person at the top of this list would be designated Speaker pro tempore until elections were held in the chamber for a new leader of the majority party in the chamber if Mr. McCarthy were to be ousted by a vote of the members.
In a floor vote, the Speaker could be ousted with a simple majority of the House, or 218 votes if no seats are open.
The chamber is under Republican control by a slim 221-212 margin. However, only a small number of staunch Republicans have expressed a willingness to fire Mr. McCarthy.
Democrats must now choose whether to intervene and cast a vote to support the Speaker’s continued employment.
Democrats are not thrilled with Mr. McCarthy because he recently authorised the start of a legislative investigation to see whether there is sufficient evidence to remove President Joe Biden from office.
But left-leaning New York member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told CNN on Sunday that if they can get Mr. McCarthy to make compromises, her fellow Democrats might be interested in helping him out politically.
Only twice in the past century has the uncommon procedural method to delete a Speaker been utilised, and neither time did it work.
The last time it was applied was to Speaker John Boehner in 2015.
Although the resolution to have him removed was defeated, it put enough pressure on Mr. Boehner that he announced his departure two months later after failing to unite his caucus.
It was last used prior to then in 1910.
BBC
