By Aditi Sangal, Adrienne Vogt and Mike Hayes, CNN
From CNN's Melanie Zanona
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries made it clear on social media that Democrats won’t save House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“House Democrats will continue to put people over politics," Jeffries posted on X.
Jeffries continued: "We are ready to find bipartisan common ground. Our extreme colleagues have shown no willingness to do the same. They must find a way to end the House Republican Civil War.”
From CNN's Sam Fossum
Top Democrats signal they are ready to sink Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy after leaving a closed door meeting of their caucus, saying that they remain united.
“People deserve functioning government. Speaker McCarthy has shown he cannot govern,” Ted Lieu, a member of Democratic leadership, told CNN. “I will be voting yes on a motion to vacate.”
Lieu said he believed there would be a united position from the caucus.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries did not directly say how his caucus would vote.
Rep. Adam Schiff said he "certainly" will not vote for McCarthy. “We don’t trust him. Their members don’t trust him," he added.
Rep. Veronica Escobar says she would not help McCarthy and called him “dishonest” and “destructive.”
“I could never see a situation where I would vote for Kevin McCarthy. You know, for now, I think you're gonna see that a lot of folks think that way,” she told CNN. “I think we're pretty united.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar accused McCarthy of not abiding by his word. “This is someone we collectively understand is a liar and cannot be trusted to lead.”
From CNN's Lauren Fox, Morgan Rimmer and Kristin Wilson
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries did not directly say how his caucus would vote on the motion to vacate House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, but rather urged Republicans to "break from the extremists, end the chaos."
"Democrats are going to continue to push for people over politics and to fight to make life better for everyday Americans. From the very beginning, that has been our objective. And it will continue to be our sole focus delivering for the American people. We encourage our Republican colleagues who claim to be more traditional to break from the extremists, end the chaos, end the dysfunction, end the extremism," Jeffries said following a House Democratic Caucus meeting.
"We are ready willing and able to work together with our Republican colleagues, but it is on them to join us to move the Congress and the country forward," he said.
Rep. Gerry Connolly told reporters that meeting had "long lines" of members at the mics, waiting to speak about whether to oust McCarthy.
He added that there was "outrage" after the caucus watched a clip from Sunday political shows where McCarthy went after House Democrats for the delay on Saturday over the stopgap funding bill.
Rep. Mark Takano said that over the course of the over-hour-long meeting, Democrat after Democrat rose in support of Jeffries and expressed distrust for McCarthy, although he said no official position had been taken yet.
Rep. Diana DeGette said that that while a decision has not yet been made among Democrats on how they will address the motion to vacate, she said her caucus has "unity of purpose on our side. I think we have tremendous respect for this institution."
"I think what has happened that all of you have witnessed and the American people have witnessed is that the current speaker has chosen to cater to a very extreme element that, in my view, it's sort of a post-truth world, and that he is not trustworthy," she said. "And I think you can see that within his own caucus, but you can certainly see it the way he's treated us and the American people."
When asked if Democrats would help bail McCarthy out, DeGette demurred, saying "I'm gonna let our leadership talk to you about what our decision is."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told reporters that Democrats will not vote to preserve McCarthy's gavel.
"We are following our leader and we are not saving Kevin McCarthy," she said.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren confirmed that they decided in their meeting that they will not move to save him.
From CNN's Haley Talbot and Manu Raju
Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters he will bring up a procedural vote to kill GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz’s effort to oust him in the first vote series around 1:30 p.m. When told that five Republicans will likely join with Democrats to knock him out, McCarthy said “probably so.”
McCarthy said he is not expecting Democrats to bail him out this afternoon. He said he does not need Democrats to help, but “if five Republicans go with Dems, then I am out.” When pressed on timing and why he would do it today, he fired back, “Why not? I think Matt has planned this all along no matter what transpired.”
“Yes,” McCarthy said when asked if he is calling Gaetz's bluff.
He was further pressed by CNN, he ruled out any sort of power-sharing agreement with Democrats.
“That doesn’t work. I'm a conservative; I'm a Republican. I'm a conservative that want to get things done. I know we live in our governments designed to have compromise but look we are in the majority. You don't surrender,” he said.
He said he talks to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries every week and said, “you guys do whatever you need to do. I get politics. I understand where people are.”
“At the end of the day, if I have to lose my job over it, so be it," he said in conclusion, adding that it was the right decision to keep government open.
Earlier on Tuesday, Jeffries said he had a private call with McCarthy.
From CNN's Sam Fossum and Manu Raju
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s allies and swing district Republicans railed against Rep. Matt Gaetz Tuesday morning — and bluntly warned that the dysfunction could put their majority at risk.
In interviews with CNN, they attacked Gaetz for throwing the House of Representatives into a state of paralysis and vowed to help McCarthy keep his job even if he lacks the votes to defeat Gaetz’s motion to oust the speaker.
“I think it’s a huge distraction. I think it’s a fool’s errand to be kind of moving in this direction. This country does not need any more drama right now. We just took it to the brink of a shutdown. … I think it’s counterproductive to what the GOP majority should be doing right now,” Rep. Steve Womack said.
Rep. Andy Barr had a similar warning. “I’m telling you it definitely puts the majority in jeopardy when you see disunity,” he said, adding, “That’s why this is so destructive.”
Rep. Erin Houchin told CNN that Gaetz is a “chaos agent.”
New York Republicans Marc Molinaro and Nick LaLota also piled onto Gaetz.
“I don't have tolerance for some pseudo-psycho political fetish. Instead, we have to continue to work on behalf of American people," Molinaro told CNN. "It's a total distraction. And once we get past today, we're going to refocus on reigning in federal spending, border security and the issues and challenges facing the American people."
LaLota added, "We'll get through these next couple of days with Speaker McCarthy at the helm. And we'll continue to good progress."
When asked if he has reached out to Democrats, LaLota said no but that he "would expect that a decent number of Democrats would want to maintain decent order in the House and not be a part of this chaos."
Rep. Darrell Issa said that during the GOP meeting, McCarthy got repeated standing ovations and public displays of support.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, told CNN that “very serious” bipartisan talks are happening among rank-and-file members about cutting a deal to save McCarthy’s speakership. But he didn’t know how many Democrats he could woo.
“I hope there’s 218 people that will reward bipartisanship,” Fitzpatrick said, adding that the speaker isn’t involved in the effort.
From CNN's Clare Foran and Melanie Zanona
The US House of Representatives is bracing for a key vote Tuesday over Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s political future as GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida pushes for his ouster.
McCarthy told House Republicans that the motion to vacate will be brought up in Tuesday’s first vote series, according to sources in the room of the closed-door conference meeting. Gaetz on Monday moved to oust McCarthy from the top House leadership post by offering a motion to vacate the chair on the House floor – a rare procedural maneuver that can be used to force a vote to remove the speaker.
It’s not yet clear how the process will play out, but the first vote to occur related to the motion to vacate could be a procedural move to try to kill the effort. If a procedural vote fails, then there would be a vote directly on whether to remove McCarthy as speaker, which would take only a majority to succeed.
McCarthy also told his members he will not cut a deal with Democrats, sources said.
Gaetz was directly pressed by his colleagues during Tuesday’s party meeting for his grand plan, and who would replace McCarthy if he was ousted, sources said. Gaetz stood up and responded that there would need to be a new speaker’s election that plays out but didn’t name anyone he had in mind for the job.
The push to oust McCarthy represents the most serious threat to the California Republican’s speakership to date and marks a major escalation in tensions for a House GOP conference that has been mired in in-fighting and could be thrown into more chaos if McCarthy is pushed out.
It comes as a bloc of hardline conservatives have continued to thwart McCarthy, voting against key priorities of GOP leadership and repeatedly throwing up roadblocks to the speaker’s agenda.
No House speaker has ever been ousted through the passage of a resolution to remove them.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries made it clear on social media that Democrats won’t save House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“House Democrats will continue to put people over politics," Jeffries posted on X.
Jeffries continued: "We are ready to find bipartisan common ground. Our extreme colleagues have shown no willingness to do the same. They must find a way to end the House Republican Civil War.”
Top Democrats signal they are ready to sink Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy after leaving a closed door meeting of their caucus, saying that they remain united.
“People deserve functioning government. Speaker McCarthy has shown he cannot govern,” Ted Lieu, a member of Democratic leadership, told CNN. “I will be voting yes on a motion to vacate.”
Lieu said he believed there would be a united position from the caucus.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries did not directly say how his caucus would vote.
Rep. Adam Schiff said he "certainly" will not vote for McCarthy. “We don’t trust him. Their members don’t trust him," he added.
Rep. Veronica Escobar says she would not help McCarthy and called him “dishonest” and “destructive.”
“I could never see a situation where I would vote for Kevin McCarthy. You know, for now, I think you're gonna see that a lot of folks think that way,” she told CNN. “I think we're pretty united.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar accused McCarthy of not abiding by his word. “This is someone we collectively understand is a liar and cannot be trusted to lead.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries did not directly say how his caucus would vote on the motion to vacate House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, but rather urged Republicans to "break from the extremists, end the chaos."
"Democrats are going to continue to push for people over politics and to fight to make life better for everyday Americans. From the very beginning, that has been our objective. And it will continue to be our sole focus delivering for the American people. We encourage our Republican colleagues who claim to be more traditional to break from the extremists, end the chaos, end the dysfunction, end the extremism," Jeffries said following a House Democratic Caucus meeting.
"We are ready willing and able to work together with our Republican colleagues, but it is on them to join us to move the Congress and the country forward," he said.
Rep. Gerry Connolly told reporters that meeting had "long lines" of members at the mics, waiting to speak about whether to oust McCarthy.
He added that there was "outrage" after the caucus watched a clip from Sunday political shows where McCarthy went after House Democrats for the delay on Saturday over the stopgap funding bill.
Rep. Mark Takano said that over the course of the over-hour-long meeting, Democrat after Democrat rose in support of Jeffries and expressed distrust for McCarthy, although he said no official position had been taken yet.
Rep. Diana DeGette said that that while a decision has not yet been made among Democrats on how they will address the motion to vacate, she said her caucus has "unity of purpose on our side. I think we have tremendous respect for this institution."
"I think what has happened that all of you have witnessed and the American people have witnessed is that the current speaker has chosen to cater to a very extreme element that, in my view, it's sort of a post-truth world, and that he is not trustworthy," she said. "And I think you can see that within his own caucus, but you can certainly see it the way he's treated us and the American people."
When asked if Democrats would help bail McCarthy out, DeGette demurred, saying "I'm gonna let our leadership talk to you about what our decision is."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told reporters that Democrats will not vote to preserve McCarthy's gavel.
"We are following our leader and we are not saving Kevin McCarthy," she said.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren confirmed that they decided in their meeting that they will not move to save him.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters he will bring up a procedural vote to kill GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz’s effort to oust him in the first vote series around 1:30 p.m. When told that five Republicans will likely join with Democrats to knock him out, McCarthy said “probably so.”
McCarthy said he is not expecting Democrats to bail him out this afternoon. He said he does not need Democrats to help, but “if five Republicans go with Dems, then I am out.” When pressed on timing and why he would do it today, he fired back, “Why not? I think Matt has planned this all along no matter what transpired.”
“Yes,” McCarthy said when asked if he is calling Gaetz's bluff.
He was further pressed by CNN, he ruled out any sort of power-sharing agreement with Democrats.
“That doesn’t work. I'm a conservative; I'm a Republican. I'm a conservative that want to get things done. I know we live in our governments designed to have compromise but look we are in the majority. You don't surrender,” he said.
He said he talks to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries every week and said, “you guys do whatever you need to do. I get politics. I understand where people are.”
“At the end of the day, if I have to lose my job over it, so be it," he said in conclusion, adding that it was the right decision to keep government open.
Earlier on Tuesday, Jeffries said he had a private call with McCarthy.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s allies and swing district Republicans railed against Rep. Matt Gaetz Tuesday morning — and bluntly warned that the dysfunction could put their majority at risk.
In interviews with CNN, they attacked Gaetz for throwing the House of Representatives into a state of paralysis and vowed to help McCarthy keep his job even if he lacks the votes to defeat Gaetz’s motion to oust the speaker.
“I think it’s a huge distraction. I think it’s a fool’s errand to be kind of moving in this direction. This country does not need any more drama right now. We just took it to the brink of a shutdown. … I think it’s counterproductive to what the GOP majority should be doing right now,” Rep. Steve Womack said.
Rep. Andy Barr had a similar warning. “I’m telling you it definitely puts the majority in jeopardy when you see disunity,” he said, adding, “That’s why this is so destructive.”
Rep. Erin Houchin told CNN that Gaetz is a “chaos agent.”
New York Republicans Marc Molinaro and Nick LaLota also piled onto Gaetz.
“I don't have tolerance for some pseudo-psycho political fetish. Instead, we have to continue to work on behalf of American people," Molinaro told CNN. "It's a total distraction. And once we get past today, we're going to refocus on reigning in federal spending, border security and the issues and challenges facing the American people."
LaLota added, "We'll get through these next couple of days with Speaker McCarthy at the helm. And we'll continue to good progress."
When asked if he has reached out to Democrats, LaLota said no but that he "would expect that a decent number of Democrats would want to maintain decent order in the House and not be a part of this chaos."
Rep. Darrell Issa said that during the GOP meeting, McCarthy got repeated standing ovations and public displays of support.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, told CNN that “very serious” bipartisan talks are happening among rank-and-file members about cutting a deal to save McCarthy’s speakership. But he didn’t know how many Democrats he could woo.
“I hope there’s 218 people that will reward bipartisanship,” Fitzpatrick said, adding that the speaker isn’t involved in the effort.
The US House of Representatives is bracing for a key vote Tuesday over Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s political future as GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida pushes for his ouster.
McCarthy told House Republicans that the motion to vacate will be brought up in Tuesday’s first vote series, according to sources in the room of the closed-door conference meeting. Gaetz on Monday moved to oust McCarthy from the top House leadership post by offering a motion to vacate the chair on the House floor – a rare procedural maneuver that can be used to force a vote to remove the speaker.
It’s not yet clear how the process will play out, but the first vote to occur related to the motion to vacate could be a procedural move to try to kill the effort. If a procedural vote fails, then there would be a vote directly on whether to remove McCarthy as speaker, which would take only a majority to succeed.
McCarthy also told his members he will not cut a deal with Democrats, sources said.
Gaetz was directly pressed by his colleagues during Tuesday’s party meeting for his grand plan, and who would replace McCarthy if he was ousted, sources said. Gaetz stood up and responded that there would need to be a new speaker’s election that plays out but didn’t name anyone he had in mind for the job.
The push to oust McCarthy represents the most serious threat to the California Republican’s speakership to date and marks a major escalation in tensions for a House GOP conference that has been mired in in-fighting and could be thrown into more chaos if McCarthy is pushed out.
It comes as a bloc of hardline conservatives have continued to thwart McCarthy, voting against key priorities of GOP leadership and repeatedly throwing up roadblocks to the speaker’s agenda.
No House speaker has ever been ousted through the passage of a resolution to remove them.
