Eight far-right Republicans crossed party lines during a vote held on October 2 to relieve representative Kevin McCarthy (California, R) of his office as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
This marks the first time in modern congressional history that a speaker of the house has been successfully removed from office, and only the third time a motion of removal has ever been attempted in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The motion in question was tabled by a representative from Florida’s first Congressional district, Matt Gaetz; Gaetz is a longtime outspoken critic of McCarthy.
Gaetz, along with several other openly far-right Republicans, were behind the extensive process needed to confirm McCarthy as speaker in January of 2023.
Gaetz feels that McCarthy is too progressive in his views on hot-button issues and dislikes his attitude towards cooperation with the Democratic party.
Gaetz also refused to vote to confirm McCarthy until he gave significant concessions to Gaetz and several other hardline Republicans standing in his way, leading to the confirmation process for McCarthy lasting 11 rounds, a House record.
One of these concessions was the ability of any single member to motion for his removal, a power that Gaetz threatened to use for several months before eventually confirming he would do so on September 12.
Gaetz’s reasoning for doing so was the alleged breaches of trust that McCarthy had committed in making a deal with House Democrats to secure Government spending packages, which are vital for the U.S. Government to operate.
McCarthy’s ousting leaves the Government facing a series of predicaments.
First, there remains several rounds of spending legislation that are still unconfirmed, which must happen before November 13.
Failure to confirm this legislation would result in the total shutdown of the U.S. government, something that despite coming dangerously close to happening in recent years, has been avoided until now.
But in order to confirm it, it must be approved by the House, which cannot be done without a speaker, and as such, nothing can happen until a new speaker is chosen and voted in. As the Speaker of the House is chosen by the majority party, the task falls to House Republicans to solve this crisis.
The current division within the Republican party between its more moderate and extreme wings could delay the nomination of a candidate, and interim speaker Patrick McHenry (North Carolina, R), has stated his intent not to run for the full speakership.
The current leader in the race was Jim Jordan of Ohio, who the republican party voted as their nominee for the speakership at a conference on October 13.
Jordan faced opposition from 25 moderate Republicans, who disagree with Jordan’s further-right viewpoints.
However, following three failed attempts at confirmation, Jordan was removed as the Republican nominee after a secret party vote on October 20.
This puts the House back at square one, with the November 13 budget deadline rapidly approaching. With war between Israel and Hamas looking likely, the Republican party must set aside differences and act.