In the 118th Congress, the 2022 midterm elections formed a narrow majority for Republicans in the House of Representatives. The Freedom Caucus, a right-wing congressional caucus, secured a minority of seats. McCarthy faced significant opposition from the Freedom Caucus during the speakership election for the 118th Congress. After several rounds of voting, McCarthy was elected speaker, conceding to his opponents by allowing any representative to file a motion to vacate. A potential government shutdown began to take hold in July 2023 as the Freedom Caucus—in a demonstration of austerity and in opposition to McCarthy—began opposing spending bills to fund the government.
By September, the federal government appeared poised to shut down; the Freedom Caucus furthered its beleaguerment of McCarthy's agenda by threatening to file a motion to vacate if he turned to Democratic support. The House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution on September 30 with Democratic support regardless. On October 2, Gaetz filed a motion to vacate, citing the continuing resolution. The House of Representatives began voting on the motion the following day. Following an unsuccessful motion to table by Tom Cole, the House voted to remove McCarthy, with Democrats unanimously voting against him. The speakership seat was immediately vacated and McHenry—a McCarthy ally—was made speaker pro tempore.
Process and replacement
Removing the speaker of the House necessitates the use of a motion to vacate. As part of negotiations for McCarthy's speakership, any single representative can initiate a motion to vacate.[1] The provision has only been used twice in the House of Representatives. In 1910, an unsuccessful motion was filed by Joseph G. Cannon against himself after a revolt.[2][3] In 2015, Representative Mark Meadows used a motion to vacate against then-speaker John Boehner, but a vote was not officially called before Boehner resigned. A representative must file the resolution and request a vote; as a privileged resolution, the vote must occur within two legislative days. A vote may be blocked if the resolution is tabled or sent to committee. If passed, an internal list penned by McCarthy would appoint a speaker pro tempore until a new speaker was named. An election would then begin.[4] According to individuals who spoke to The Washington Post, several members of the Freedom Caucus—including Representative Andy Biggs[5]—intend to coalesce around Representative Tom Emmer for his conservative values following McCarthy's removal; Emmer said he has "zero interest in palace intrigue," according to The Washington Post.[6] Majority leader Steve Scalise has been proposed as a potential speaker.[5]
Representative Matt Gaetz has led resistance to McCarthy and successfully filed a motion to recall him.
The 2022 midterm elections resulted in a narrow Senate majority for the Democratic Party and a narrow House of Representatives majority for the Republican Party. In the 118th Congress, the Freedom Caucus, a right-wing congressional caucus, secured 45 House of Representatives seats. Kevin McCarthy, leader of the House Republican Conference, was elected speaker of the House after several days of voting as opposition—primarily led by members of the Freedom Caucus—mounted against him. McCarthy conceded to his opponents to negotiate their support for his speakership. In May 2023, McCarthy negotiated with President Joe Biden on a deal to resolve a debt-ceiling crisis and an imminent debt default. In response, Republicans, led by Matt Gaetz, balked and blocked a bill protecting gas stoves against federal regulations.[7] The mutiny left McCarthy with a political quagmire to acquiesce to the insurgents, passing legislation that would face resistance in the Senate, or to negotiate with Democrats, contending with a potential ousting.[8]
By September, the federal government appeared poised to shut down after representatives could not vote on a series of appropriations bills.[9] The Freedom Caucus threatened to depose McCarthy if he turned to Democrats to gather more votes.[10] On September 29, Politico reported that Gaetz had reached out to Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal, among other Democrats, about removing McCarthy.[11] The following day, hours before a shutdown was expected to occur, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan continuing resolution to fund the government through November 17. The resolution was passed in the Senate and signed by President Biden, averting a shutdown.[12] Gaetz, who has led resistance to McCarthy,[13] announced in an interview with CNN that he would move to remove McCarthy for working with Democrats.[14]
Gaetz's motion to vacate
On October 2, Gaetz filed a motion to vacate, forcing a vote on McCarthy's removal within two legislative days.[15] Voting began the following day; McCarthy ruled out a deal involving support from Democrats in exchange for concessions.[16] Representative Tom Cole unsuccessfully moved to table the motion. Following one hour of debate evenly divided between Gaetz and Cole, the motion passed by a vote 216–210; this was the first time in congressional history the House voted to remove its incumbent Speaker.[17]
Results
Vote to table
Representative Tom Cole's motion to table the motion to vacate was unsuccessful.
The vote to vacate was mostly split along party lines; Biggs, Buck, Burchett, Crane, Gaetz, Good, Mace, and Rosendale defected to vote yes.[18]
Burchett said his yes vote was "sealed" after McCarthy allegedly said a "condescending" remark about his religious beliefs during a phone call. McCarthy said that he did not intend to upset Burchett.[19]
Party moderate Mace defended her vote by citing unfulfilled promises McCarthy made regarding the future strategy of the Republican Conference towards gun violence and abortion.[20]
House Minority LeaderHakeem Jeffries and Congressional Democrats said their yes votes were ultimately sealed by a video of "an appearance Mr. McCarthy made on television on Sunday — the morning after Democrats helped him push through legislation to avert a government shutdown — in which he blamed them for trying to prompt a shutdown."[21]
Following his removal, McCarthy announced that he would not seek reelection as Speaker, leaving an open race to fill the office. This left the House Republicans in a state of uncertainty, as there is no apparent successor to lead the House Republican majority. North Carolina representative Patrick McHenry, a described close ally of McCarthy, was appointed as his temporary replacement as Speaker pro tempore of the House.[26]
The House's legislative activities were temporarily halted, as Speaker Pro Tempore McHenry began an eight-day recess.[27] The Republican Conference is scheduled to reconvene on October 10 to nominate their candidate for Speaker to vote on the next day.[28]
Former speaker and representative from California, Nancy Pelosi, was asked to vacate her secondary office in the Capitol by speaker pro tempore Patrick McHenry, who has full authority over office space assignments as presiding speaker. Maryland representative Steny Hoyer also received a notice from Republican leadership to vacate his Capitol office.[29]
Responses and analysis
Republican response
Many Republicans condemned McCarthy's removal. Former vice presidentMike Pence said, "Chaos is never America's strength, and it's never a friend of American families that are struggling." Former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said that Gaetz was "actively destructive to the conservative movement."[30] Gingrich also said that House Republicans should expel Gaetz.[31]
In a press conference following his removal, McCarthy blamed Democrats. He argued that Democrats should have voted against the motion to vacate to protect the institution.[35] McCarthy also said that former Democratic speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had promised him that Democrats would support McCarthy during a motion to vacate.[36]
The Republican Main Street Caucus said in a statement that any candidate for speaker would have to explain how "what happened on Tuesday will never happen again."[37]
Democratic response
On October 3, prior to the vote, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries asked Democrats to vote to remove McCarthy, as McCarthy made no motion to negotiate for Democratic support.[38] Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut said "They [Republicans] need to work this out...This is not for us to get involved."[39]
On October 4, Jeffries released a statement wishing McCarthy well and saying that he and McCarthy "had a respectful, communicative and forward-looking relationship."[40]
Media analysis
Prior to the vote, Politico's Ryan Lizza postulated that if McCarthy had retained his position, Gaetz might have simply proposed additional motions to vacate, as there is no limit on the number of times a member can do so.[41]The Washington Post political contributer Dan Balz speculated that the ousting of McCarthy could hurt Republicans during the 2024 election.[42]
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