The House voted to eject Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as leader on Tuesday, making him the first speaker in history to ever be removed, following a rebellion among far-right lawmakers that serves as the latest example of the deep divisions within the Republican party.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is surrounded by staff, security and journalists as he ... [+]
The House voted 210-216 to remove McCarthy from the House speaker’s office Tuesday, marking the first time in history a speaker was removed by his colleagues and the first time since 1910 Congress has taken a vote on ousting a speaker.
Eight Republicans voted alongside all Democrats to remove McCarthy.
The official vote follows a failed effort by McCarthy and his allies earlier Tuesday to table the resolution to remove McCarthy, when 11 Republicans voted alongside Democrats to move forward with the vote to eject him.
McCarthy’s removal marks a success for Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who made good on months of threats against McCarthy Monday when he filed the motion to vacate—but he has angered a large coalition of his Republican colleagues along the way, who have accused him of conducting a self-serving side show that distracts from legislative business.
McCarthy smiled at reporters and expressed optimism heading into the chamber ahead of Tuesday’s vote, but his fate seemed clear after Democrats announced just before the House gaveled in that they would back McCarthy’s ouster, citing what they called “unprecedented dysfunction” and “extremism” that has thrived under McCarthy, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement Tuesday announcing the decision.
McCarthy will remain a member of Congress despite his ouster from the speaker’s office.
“Chaos is somebody who we cannot trust with their word,” Gaetz said on the House floor Tuesday. “I think $33 trillion in debt is chaos. I think that facing a $2.2 trillion annual deficit is chaos. I think their not passing single-subject spending bills is chaos …the way to liberate ourselves from that is a series of reforms to this body.”
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) who filed the motion to table the resolution to remove McCarthy defended him on the House floor Tuesday and warned his GOP colleagues “think long and hard before you plunge us into chaos because that’s where we’re headed if we vacate the speakership.”
Gaetz introduced the motion to vacate the speakership late Monday after McCarthy teamed with Democrats to pass a 45-day spending plan to avert a government shutdown. Gaetz strongly opposed any short-term spending plan and accused McCarthy of negotiating a “secret deal” to provide more funding for Ukraine, even though Ukraine funding was stripped from the temporary budget in a bid to attract enough Republican votes to pass it. McCarthy was elected speaker in January following 15 rounds of voting, marking the first time since 1860 a speakership election has stretched past nine rounds. He won only after agreeing to a string of concessions with his right-wing holdouts, including Gaetz, that required him to change House rules to allow just one member to bring a motion to vacate. Deep divisions within the GOP repeatedly hamstrung McCarthy’s ability to corral the Republican conference as hard-right members leveraged Republicans’ slim 222-213 majority in the House to push their demands in exchange for votes on critical issues, including the debt ceiling deal in June and the recent budget negotiations.
Trump has refused to take sides on the issue, telling a crowd at a campaign event in Iowa over the weekend “I like them both very much,” referring to Gaetz and McCarthy. Gaetz told reporters Monday he has spoken to Trump about the effort to remove McCarthy but declined to divulge details of the discussions. Trump supported McCarthy’s speakership in January and took credit for his win.
McCarthy, elected in 2006 to represent parts of California’s southern Central Valley, succeeded Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as Republican floor leader when Ryan retired at the end of 2018. Democrats won back the House that year, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was elected speaker. McCarthy was elected the 55th speaker of the House after Republicans flipped the chamber back into their control in the 2022 midterm election.
House legislative business will effectively stall without a speaker in place until another election is held to select McCarthy’s replacement. Gaetz has mentioned both GOP Whip Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and Minority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) as potential successors to McCarthy.
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