US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023.
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WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives began voting on a motion to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his leadership post after rejecting an effort to delay action on that question.
The roll-call vote on the McCarthy’s fate began after an hour of debate beween the Republican speaker’s allies and his main antagonist, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, and other hard-line GOP lawmakers.
Republicans hold a slim majority in the House.
But McCarthy’s hold on the speakership has been tenuous since he was elected in January, due to a small clique led by Gaetz who are unhappy with the Californian.
One source told NBC News on Tuesday that some McCarthy allies were “begging” a number of Democratic House members to vote with them to save his speakership.
“We need Kevin McCarthy to remain as our speaker,” said Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Ind., during the debate. “We’re going to stay focused on our mission of delivering common sense wins for the American people.”
Gaetz said, “The one thing that the White House, Democrats and many of us on the conservative side of the Republican caucus have in common is McCarthy said something to all of us at one point that he didn’t really mean and never intended to live up to.”
“There’s nothing selfish about wanting a speaker of the House who tells the truth,” he said.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) departs from the U.S. Capitol Building on September 29, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., as he spoke in defense of McCarthy, noted he is the only remaining congressman who sought to oust former Republican Speaker John Boehner in the last attempted motion to vacate.
Doing so to McCarthy would be a “terrible idea,” Massie said.
“If regular order fails today — if you vacate the speaker, nobody is going to try it again,” Massie said. “This institution will fail. Please do not vacate the speaker.”
Gaetz on Monday night formally launched the process of trying to remove McCarthy with the so-called motion to vacate.
Gaetz claims that McCarthy no longer represents the interests of the GOP caucus after the speaker worked with Democrats to pass a stopgap funding bill to avoid a government shutdown over the weekend.
“Look, I’m an optimist because I think there’s no point in being anything else,” McCarthy said on his way to the House floor before his backers lost a motion seeking to delay debate on Gaetz’s motion to vacate.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., in a statement said he and other Democratic leaders in the chamber “will vote yes” on Gaetz’s motion to oust McCarthy.
“It is now the responsibility of the GOP members to end the House Republican Civil War,” Jeffries said.
Gaetz has been threatening McCarthy with a motion to vacate since he worked with Democrats on a debt ceiling deal in the spring.
McCarthy told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday morning that Gaetz has “personal things in his life that he has challenges with.”
In January, as a condition to secure enough votes to become speaker, McCarthy agreed to change the rules to lower the threshold needed to bring a motion to oust a speaker from five votes to just one.
