2023-10-04 14:40:43
© Reuters. Deposed President of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy in Washington 03/10/2023 REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
By Richard Cowan and David Morgan and Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives was without a speaker on Wednesday after radical Republicans narrowly won a vote to remove Kevin McCarthy from office, a historic move that set off what will be a long and intense battle. probably in turmoil to find a replacement.
It was the first time that the Chamber removed a president of the House – a position that is second in the line of succession of the US Presidency, after the vice president.
Republican lawmakers signaled they would need a week to regroup, planning to meet on Tuesday to discuss possible candidates to replace McCarthy — who has said he will not run again — with votes on Oct. 11 at the earliest. .
The leadership fight is consuming the time lawmakers have to avoid the imminent partial government shutdown, which would begin on November 18, if Congress fails to pass legislation that guarantees more funding.
“We are in uncharted waters,” Republican Rep. Byron Donalds told reporters after endorsing McCarthy in a vote the House speaker lost 216-210.
It was unclear who might seek to succeed McCarthy in a role that has proven challenging for Republicans in recent years. The party’s last two leaders, Paul Ryan and John Boehner, retired from Congress after conflicts with the right-wing wing.
McCarthy, who led a narrow majority of 221 to 212 seats, made the job even harder for himself. During the grueling 15 rounds of voting for his bid for House speaker in January, he agreed to changes to House rules that allowed any member to call for the speaker of the House to be removed from office, setting the stage for Rep. Matt Gaetz to do just that. .
“I don’t envy anyone this job,” said Republican Rep. Mike Garcia. He described the rule change as “giving out 220 matches to people in your party and dousing yourself in fuel and hoping none of them are crazy.”
McCarthy said only that his advice to the next president was: “Change the rules.”
Although many lawmakers predicted this day would come, given McCarthy’s tenuous hold on the House speakership, they were stunned that Republicans had actually abandoned their own leader.
“I’ve been here a while and I’ve seen a lot, but I’ve never seen this,” Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern told Reuters.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called on the House’s “traditional Republicans” to “turn away from Maga extremism and join us in partnership for the good of the country,” a reference to the “Make America Great Again” slogan ( “Make America Great Again”, in translation) by former president Donald Trump.
Names being floated as McCarthy’s replacement include House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Republican Leader Tom Emmer. Rep. Patrick McHenry, who was named acting chairman after McCarthy’s removal, could also become a candidate.
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