In a historic vote in the United States whose only precedent occurred one hundred years ago with the motion to annul Joseph Cannon In 1910, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, was removed from office after a rebellion by the most radical wing of his own party. He is the first speaker of the Lower House to be removed from office.
With 216 votes in favor and 210 votes against, the Californian congressman ended up being a victim of the sinking of a ship that was perhaps destined for the depths from the beginning, 10 months ago, when it took up to 15 votes to convince his people that he will appoint president of the House.
The eight Republicans who finally voted in favor of his dismissal have been Andy Biggs from Arizona, Ken Buck from Colorado, Tim Burchett from Tennessee, Eli Crane from Arizona, Matt Gaetz from Florida, Bob Good of Virginia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Matt Rosendale of Mountain.
Democrats were considering two options: keep McCarthy afloat or stay out of it. However, in a closed-door meeting this Tuesday, the representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, used the “lack of will of Republicans to break with MAGA extremism” as an argument for opting for the second.
It all started with a small but united group of House Republicans, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, who joined with Democrats to unseat him, after he was challenged from the start, but particularly in recent days. Gaetz said McCarthy no longer represented the interests of the GOP caucus after the Californian worked with Democrats to pass a stopgap funding bill and avoid a government shutdown over the weekend. Other Republicans who voted to remove him from office largely cited his anger over her handling of fiscal issues.
But the truth is that the bipartisan agreement was a last resort for McCarthy, who had tried to pass a GOP funding plan but was blocked by a handful of his own, including several who voted to impeach him. McCarthy and his allies They believe that the measure is also personal. Gaetz had been threatening for weeks to force a vote to remove him because of an ethics investigation into him that is moving forward on another front.
The future is as uncertain as these 10 months have been. The House will be headed by an interim president (president pro tempore) chosen from a list designated by McCarthy and shared with the clerk of the House, a process implemented for continuity of government reasons after 9/11. Members of both parties hope that the Speaker pro tempore have the primary responsibility of presiding over a new Speaker election as soon as possible.
Until then, House aides hope the body can make a repeat of McCarthy’s historic 15-vote election in January. McCarthy’s ouster is inextricably linked to that four-day saga. Recall that to influence the 20 who resisted him and win the leadership, McCarthy agreed to a number of conditions, including changing the threshold for forcing a vote on the removal of the Speaker from five members to just one. Today, he has had to drink his own medicine.
The motion to rescind the threat has been hanging over his head ever since.
