2023-10-05 12:14:21
A growing number of moderate Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday called for a rule change that allowed eight members of their 221-member majority to join 212 Democrats in expelling House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from office.
During his grueling four-day, 15-vote fight for control of the House in January, McCarthy agreed to a rule change that allowed any member of the House to call for his removal — a threat that hardline Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz carried out on Tuesday. fair.
Rep. Garret Graves, a longtime McCarthy ally, called the current rules structure “completely dysfunctional.”
He pointed out that “the number of great people who are at this conference who have said ‘Of course not, I wouldn’t even consider this work, because it will be a total failure’” is one reason why the motion to overturn the rule “needs to be discussed. ”
The Republican Main Street Caucus, a group of more than 70 moderate Republican lawmakers, described the current rule in a statement as “a chokehold,” adding that any House speaker candidate “must explain to us how what happened on Tuesday will never happen again.” will happen”.
The rule known as a “motion to vacate” is enshrined in the US House governing manual, but the details of it are up to each Congress to decide.
Before 2019, the measure was considered a privileged motion, which any member could bring to the House floor.
But after two Republican presidents were threatened and ultimately left office over the move, Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed through a rules change that required a majority of the House to support a motion to vacate for approval.
Republican hardliners expressed little interest Wednesday in changing the rule.
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