Matt Gaetz moves to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker, setting up dramatic vote
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Hard-line Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz on Monday night introduced a motion to remove Kevin McCarthy from the House speakership , setting up a dramatic vote over the future of the chamber's Republican majority.
The motion must be voted on within two legislative days, under House rules.
"Bring it on," McCarthy soon responded on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Gaetz, a Florida lawmaker, had said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that he would bring a so-called motion to vacate against McCarthy, criticizing how McCarthy has handled spending and budget fights since the GOP took control of the House in January and contending that McCarthy broke promises to other conservatives about how he would lead.
"Kevin McCarthy, at one point or another, has lied to all of us," he said.
McCarthy has projected confidence about facing the motion, telling on CBS on Sunday: "I'll survive." He suggested Gaetz was motivated by a "personal" grudge, which Gaetz denies.
"Let's get over with it. Let's start governing," McCarthy said. "If he's upset because he tried to push us into a shutdown and I made sure government didn't shut down, then let's have that talk."
McCarthy will need a majority of votes to beat back the motion, but Republicans hold only a five-seat majority. It's unclear if Gaetz has more than handful of other members who will support him, but at least one Democrat -- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez -- has said she would vote to remove McCarthy.
No speaker has ever been removed in this way, though such motions have been attempted a few times in history.
Moments after he spoke on the House floor earlier on Monday, teasing that he would bring the motion against McCarthy, Gaetz conceded to ABC News that he may not have the votes to kick McCarthy out of his job as he addressed reporters outside the Capitol.
Asked by ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott if he would he try again if his efforts fail, Gaetz said, "Yeah."
"Well, like I've said, it took Speaker McCarthy 15 votes to become the speaker. So until I get to 14 or 15, I don't think I'm being any more dilatory than he was," he said.
ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler and Lauren Peller contributed to this report.
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The voters put McCarthy in this predicament. They drank the Kool aide and were struck dumb.
Always someone else to blame, eh!
I doubt that McCarthy will follow the example of the Speaker of the Canadian Parliament. Actually, someone should bring a motion to "vacate" Matt Gaetz. Before someone criticizes me for that statement, please realize that I never learned and never will be capable of understanding America's unbelievably complicated system of government. Maybe the system is the reason for the widening and deepening of the political divide, which apparently is also infecting the American people.
McCarthy right now is in the same position LBJ was in when he was trying to pass the Voting Rights Act. He will have to depend on the other party rather than his own.
So will Gaetz. He'll need two hundred democrats.
“McCarthy right now is in the same position LBJ was in when he was trying to pass the Voting Rights Act.”
Nice try, but a rather specious comparison.
The Voting Rights Act was one of the most important pieces of legislation to be passed in the last sixty years. It took considerable effort and indeed required bipartisan support…to our benefit.
Gaetz’ agenda is pure partisan spite. McCarthy is weak and being held hostage by a radicalized cabal of populist shills. You gets what you gaetz…to his and only his benefit.
If McCarthy DID make a secret deal with Biden to continue funding Ukraine I can understand why he blew it, and now he can ponder that doing so was a personal sacrifice..
The Republicans need to focus on beating Democrats and winning elections. Only if you're in power can you cut spending and taxes. That means be in control of the House, Senate, and the White House. Gaetz will have to do what McCarthy did and work with the Democrats in order to gather enough votes to vacate the Chair. What a unmitigated dumbass Gaetz is.
Gaetz is an idiot. He doesn't have nearly enough votes to oust McCarthy and now he'll have no more obligation to the magas. Nothing will get done of course but nothing was getting done anyway.
Maybe....but one thing Gaetz has is a point.
What point?
McCarthy made a promise to return to regular order.
So did Biden...
Some people just want to watch the world burn. Matt Gaetz is one of those people.
Just sickening watching these irresponsible bozos in Congress engage in endless partisan / ideological / political infighting instead of doing right for the American people.
Do your fucking jobs!
95% of their jobs is spending money, which is all spent. So if this little sideshow keeps them from screwing up the country any worse than they have, I'm fine with it.
Gridlock is indeed better than what they normally do. Point taken, but that does not mean we should condone this behavior.
This is NOT what they are supposed to be doing. Thus it is wrong and I condemn it. Don't you?
With what level of severity?..
Meh. In some ways, OK. But in some ways, no.
I think we've known for years that there is a divide in the Republican Party between traditionalists like John Cornyn or Mitt Romney and those who want more change like these Freedom Caucus people. That's reached a boiling point I had hoped we could avoid, but the underlying causes have never been addressed, so here we are.
It's pertinent that these people are all elected, and therefore are a reflection of a similar divide among Republican voters and their conflicting ideologies.
Gaetz's job is to represent his constituents, just like AOC's job is to represent hers or Collin Allred's job is to represent his.
The conflicting visions for the future of the Republican Party have reached the limit, and it is every representative's duty to fight for what they believe their constituents want. Many of Gaetz's constituents would undoubtedly rather see the government shut down than continue what it's doing... so in that sense, Gaetz attempting to force a government shutdown is "doing his job".
It's ugly. It's messy. It frequently involves unseemly behavior, of which I'm not a fan.
But that's the cost of trading 1 tyrant 3000 miles away for 3000 tyrants 1 mile away. (credit to Mather Byles, I believe)
Correct. As an U.E.L. he is better known in Canada.
The Democrats and Gaetz and his followers are working hand in hand to create as much chaos as possible.
This is not looking good...
216 to 210 right now
McCarthy is no longer Speaker
McCarthy is out as speaker, we will now have a rerun of ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest''.
Get out your popcorn.
The clown car is so crowded.
Gaetz is now getting a lot of hostile questions from the media.
8 Republicans who voted against McCarthy:
Gaetz
Good
Buck
Mace
Rosendale
Burchett
Biggs
Crane
They should all be kicked out of the party. Coordinating with democrats to remove a speaker 95% of the republican members supported can’t be tolerated. Let Jeffries and his ally gaetz run the house and take responsibility.
You may have a point. Whether they coordinated or not, they put the ball squarely in the democrat's court.
Let Jeffries and his ally gaetz run the house and take responsibility.
Jeffries has more control over who the next speaker is than Gaetz will.
The problem was always the voters. If the GOP got 40 seats, McCarthy would have had smooth sailing.
The Democrats gave Gaetz their microphone. He was on their side of the House for the debate. The picture of Omar licking her licks and giving him the "big eye" like he was her brother from a couple seats away is already going viral.
What is wrong with the democrat's thinking, here they had a chance to weaken McCarthy and at the same time silence the freedom caucus, all they had to do was vote not to vacate and unshackle McCarthy from the freedom caucus. Instead they voted to vacate in a partisan show, now they may not like what they get now.
In my opinion, it's kinda like the fire alarm thing, they want a RWNJ in there as Speaker so they can say, see cra cra Republicans.
That's what a Party looking out for the country's best interests would have done. But they maximal chaos because they think it helps them politically. Same reason they spent tens of millions supporting "Ultra Maga" candidates in Republican primaries while simultaneously calling them Nazis, threats to democracy etc...
Your attempt to blame the Democrats for this sounds, I dont know, .... desperate ?
There were probably some Democrats who wanted to make a deal with McCarthy in exchange for their votes to save him, but in the end they know he cant be trusted. They could make a deal with him and he could go back on it next week.
Probably before the meeting this morning where they were told what they were going to do by leadership. They all voted one way and while it may server their political agenda it doesn't serve the business they were elected for.
Um ... spillover is dictated by the numbers each party has. There is no demarcation line.
Exactly, they are counting on the next Speaker to be sooo much better.
BTW, the last one in that list is not me.
So McCarthy is out as speaker. And how long will it take before a new speaker is elected? And correct me if I'm wrong, but the House cannot do any other business until they elect a new speaker, can they? What does this do to the budget fight which only has until November 17th before the current CR runs out.
That is a great point. And we have 45 days before the government shuts down.
There is only one way out now. It's called bipartisan cooperation.
The whole point of this was to avoid cooperation and create a shutdown. That's why Democrats teamed with Gaetz. They both think a shutdown favors their political interests.
You will require edited dictionaries for that.
This was a perfect missed opportunity for moderates to take a stand, but the Dems blew it.
No, the Democrats did not blow it
The knee pads tell a different story. lol. j/k
They made a little circle with their lips and exhaled.
Yes they did blow it. All they had to do was vote to keep McCarthy the speaker and the Freedom Caucus loses their grip on him, that caucus could no longer dictate the agenda of the congress which would be a win for the democrats, but they let partisanship and never voting for a republican get in their way.
Conversely all McCarthy had to do was denounce the Freedom Caucus and announce a return to bi-partisan work on governing, but he didn't do that either so the Dems dumped him. The next Speaker will have to make concessions to either the Dems OR again to the Freedom Caucus. These are political games that I dislike, but it's the nature of the work anyway.
A temp speaker will be named and have limited power, but I think you are correct.
If this takes longer than the rest of the week we have worse problems than the budget fight.
I'm sure the timing of this is purely coincidental.
The Republican-controlled House Ethics Committee quietly relaunched its investigation into the Florida congressman in July, CNN reported .
Now House Republican members are prepared to expel Gaetz should the investigation find that Gaetz is guilty of the complaints filed against him,
Published yesterday.....Hmmmm.
Matt Gaetz controversies could lead to expulsion by House GOP members (palmbeachpost.com)
UPDATE:
A s the House of Representatives picks up the pieces from Kevin McCarthy’s ouster as Speaker, Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has confirmed he will make an attempt to take his place.
JUST IN: Jim Jordan Throws His Hat in the Ring for House Speaker (msn.com)
I've heard Scalise is also running.
Kevin Kern is also in the mix.
Moe is out and Curley is not running so it looked like Larry was a shoe-in until Shemp threw his hat into the ring. What a lousy mess!
Oh Look! Another gop stooge threw his hat into the ring...
“Jim Jordan (R-OH) has confirmed he will make an attempt to take his place.”
In wrestling parlance, there’s a shocker.
Another Stooge...
it was pretty funny when gaetz threw jordan and comer under the bus yesterday...
And the democrat party has remained unchanged.
Have you got any material more recent than 1964? I ask this because all of the stooges under those white sheets and pointy hats are all MAGA republicans in the gop today...
Wherever does the gop keep coming up with more stooges?
Yet, you know that the conservative southern Democrats of the Pre-Civil Rights Era are the MAGA wing of the gop today!
So very stale.
No, most of those Dems are now dead.
cool. all confederate racists belong 6 feet under...
You are advocating for the death of the democrat party......Is there anyone you don't death wish?
And yet so very accurate,
Cool, Daddy cool:
it only makes sense that the last speaker who was critical of the lead insurrectionist before a pilgrimage to mar-a-lardo the kiss his ring would eventually surrender the house leadership position to another maga republican that was in on the insurrection and had previously sought a pardon for it...
Still peddling unfounded claims I see.
The best part about this article is the constant comments from the left.....Stooges etc. the difference is, one of those stooges will be the Speaker of the house, And the democrats in the house will still be the pathetic losers that we all know they are.
Nope, the best and the funniest part of the situation is that this is how the gop looks to all of America and the rest of the world today...
They aren't even going to vote this week. They are going to adjourn and vote next Wednesday. WTF...