In a rare and historic move, Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz has filed a motion to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy is now facing a challenge to his position after a weekend
bill passage, which involved cooperation with Democrats to fund government agencies, sparked tensions within the Republican Party.
No US Speaker has ever been ousted through such a "motion to vacate," setting the stage for a significant political battle. The leadership has a limited timeframe to bring the motion up for a vote, and procedural maneuvers could be employed to hinder the process.
Removing the Speaker would require a simple majority of the House, equivalent to 218 votes when no seats are vacant. Republicans currently hold a narrow 221-212 majority in the chamber. However, only a few hardline Republicans have signaled their willingness to remove McCarthy.
Matt Gaetz, a Florida representative, and other ultraconservatives opposed the bill's inclusion of $6 billion for Ukraine, arguing that the US had already spent too much on the country's conflict with Russia. This disagreement led to Gaetz's motion to vacate McCarthy.
The motion became possible after McCarthy made a rule change that allows any single lawmaker to call for a vote to oust the Speaker. This change set the stage for the unprecedented move by Gaetz.
In his speech on the House floor, Gaetz accused McCarthy of making a secret deal with the White House to insert new Ukraine funding into separate legislation. McCarthy vehemently denied any such secret agreement, leading to an escalating showdown.
After filing the motion to vacate, Gaetz expressed his intent to proceed, stating that he had enough Republican support to potentially remove McCarthy from the Speakership. He asserted that the American people deserve to know who governs them.
It remains to be seen whether Democrats will step in to help McCarthy retain his position. Democrats have their own grievances with McCarthy, including his approval of a congressional inquiry into potentially impeaching President Joe Biden. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive New York lawmaker, suggested that Democrats might consider supporting McCarthy if they can secure concessions from him.
The rare procedural tool to remove a Speaker has been used only twice in the past century and has never succeeded in the ousting of a sitting Speaker. The last instance occurred in 2015 against Speaker John Boehner, who eventually announced his resignation two months later. Prior to that, it was last used in 1910. Photo by US House Photography, Wikimedia commons.