Republican leader is ousted by the US House of Representatives, according to Speaker Kevin McCarthy
The right-wing uprising that felled Kevin McCarthy marks the first time a US House of Representatives Speaker has ever lost a vote of no confidence.
The final vote count was 216-210, removing the congressman from his position as head of the Republican majority in the lower chamber of Congress.
After he reached a compromise with Senate Democrats to fund government agencies, hardliners in his party voted against him.The leadership of the House Republican majority lacks an obvious successor.
To prevent a second potential government shutdown, Congress has just under 40 days to reach a resolution.
McCarthy left. What occurs next?
The chalice that the next US Speaker will receive is poisoned.
What is the role of the US House Speaker?
Republican Matt Gaetz of Florida, a supporter of Donald Trump, filed a motion to vacate on Monday night in order to remove Mr. McCarthy from his position.
In the midst of talks to avert a partial government shutdown at the weekend, he accused the Speaker of reaching a covert agreement with the White House to preserve financing for Ukraine. McCarthy disputes it.
Following his dismissal on Tuesday night, Mr. McCarthy informed colleagues at a secret gathering of Republican politicians that he had no intention of running for Speaker again.
Later, he turned his focus to Mr. Gaetz, his political foe, and accused him of seeking publicity.
Mr. McCarthy stated during a press conference that “you know it was personal,” adding that “it had nothing to do with spending.”
Mr. Gaetz’s fundraising emails, he claimed, were “not becoming of a member of Congress” and were sent in the midst of the fight.
He was removed by hardliners who “are not conservatives,” Mr. McCarthy remarked.
As Mr. Gaetz and other right-wingers refused to endorse him, he only became Speaker in January after a grueling 15 rounds of voting in the chamber.
In order to placate those hardliners, Mr. McCarthy conceded to allowing only one member to propose a motion to remove him from office, which Mr. Gaetz finally did.
210 Republicans backed Mr. McCarthy in the vote on Tuesday, but eight of them joined the other members of the Democratic party in voting against him.
They were Nancy Mace, Mr. Gaetz, Eli Crane, Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Bob Good, and Matt Rosendale.
Ms. Mace, a moderate Republican from South Carolina, cast one of the votes against Mr. McCarthy that stunned many.
Afterward, she stated: “I am looking for a Speaker who will tell the truth to the American people, who will be honest and trustworthy with Congress, with both parties.”
In a letter to his colleagues, Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries declared he would not cast the votes required to save Mr. McCarthy.
Before the vote, left-leaning Democrat Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of the US state of Washington said, “Let them wallow in their pigsty of incompetence.”
Democrats claimed they did not trust Mr. McCarthy despite his recent efforts to assist in keeping the government open.
He pulled out of a spending agreement with President Joe Biden in May as a result of Republican pressure.
Some had contemplated offering concessions in exchange for saving Mr. McCarthy, but the now-former Speaker eventually ruled this out.
Democrats also perceived Mr. McCarthy’s U-turn in the days following the assault of the Capitol, when he initially criticized Donald Trump’s involvement before endorsing him, as a betrayal.
Members of the crowded chamber, which the Republicans control by a margin of 221-212, were largely silent as they awaited the outcome of the roll call vote.
Steve Womack, a Republican from Arkansas, said with a bang of his gavel, “The office of Speaker of the House is hereby declared vacant,” drawing audible gasps.
The previous president, Donald Trump, stated earlier in the day on social media that the party should focus on “fighting the Radical Left Democrats” rather than one another.
Republican Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who backed Mr. McCarthy, is now acting as Speaker. He declared a weeklong recess for the House.
It is uncertain if he will have all of the office’s authority or just administrative authority and the authority to oversee a new election.
Although a vote on a new Speaker is scheduled on October 11th, the rules do not specify how long someone may serve in an interim capacity.
Republicans Tom Emmer of Minnesota and Republican Steve Scalise of Louisiana have both been discussed as prospective McCarthy replacements. Neither has indicated a desire to fill the position.
President Biden is hopeful the House rapidly elects a new Speaker, according to the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who also underlined that the “challenges facing our nation won’t wait.”
Paul Ryan and John Boehner, the past two Republican Speakers, both resigned from Congress following ongoing conflicts with their more conservative colleagues.
Only twice in the past century had the so-called motion to vacate been used to remove a Speaker—in 2015 and 2010—but both times it failed.