House Speaker Kevin McCarthy responded to a motion to vacate filed against the Republican leader on Monday night, offering a short but combative reply: "Bring it on."

"Just did," Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) responded with a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

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The challenge comes after Gatez made a motion to vacate McCarthy from his leadership position after accusing the speaker of making "back deal" with Democrats to pass a continuing resolution over the weekend to fund the government temporarily. Gaetz demanded McCarthy answer key questions about how the stopgap measure originated, citing a statement from House Democrats that said they "expect" the speaker to put a bill on the floor that would provide additional aid to Ukraine — prompting the Florida Republican to accuse McCarthy of making a "secret" deal without the knowledge of other Republican leaders.

Gaetz first announced Sunday morning that he plans to file the motion, following through with weeks of threats to oust the speaker if he passed a clean continuing resolution to fund the government temporarily — especially through a deal that garnered the support of House Democrats.

The House voted 335-91 to pass the resolution on Saturday, with more Democrats voting in favor of the legislation than Republicans. More than 90 GOP lawmakers voted against it.

McCarthy has denied working out any back deals and has repeatedly brushed off threats by Gaetz, telling reporters Monday morning he's "not worried about" the motion.

"They elected me to be speaker, so I made a decision. I thought it was best to keep the government open," he said. "There was no guarantee Democrats would vote for it. ... But at times like this, I need to make decisions."

Reps. Garret Graves (R-LA) and Patrick McHenry (R-NC), key negotiators of the temporary spending deal, also rejected allegations that the speaker made an agreement with House Democrats, calling Gaetz's accusations a "distraction" from spending legislation lawmakers must pass before the Nov. 17 deadline.

However, it remains unclear whether Democrats would willingly bail McCarthy out if he faced an ouster. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) sent an email to House Democrats over the weekend stating that should a motion be filed, party leaders would hold a whip meeting to discuss how they'll approach the situation.

Some Democrats say the onus is on McCarthy to begin that conversation, with several lawmakers saying the speaker has not talked to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) about it.

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“There's literally no conversation to be had because Speaker McCarthy hasn't come to House Democrats to say anything," said Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA).

Now that the motion is filed, party leaders will have 48 hours to bring the motion to the floor for a vote. It's expected that McCarthy will counter the move with a motion to table, effectively killing the ouster. It's not clear when a vote would be held on the motion.