Republican House Speaker McCarthy faces ouster threat for avoiding shutdown
Published: 06:10 PM,Oct 01,2023 | EDITED : 10:10 PM,Oct 01,2023
US Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy Republican of California, speaks to the press after meeting with his caucus on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. — AFP
WASHINGTON: Top US House Republican Kevin McCarthy faced a threat to his speakership on Sunday after a hardline critic within his own party called for a vote to oust him following the passage of a stopgap government funding bill that drew more support from Democrats than Republicans.
Hardline Republican Representative Matt Gaetz told multiple US media outlets he would file a “motion to vacate,” a call for a vote to remove McCarthy as speaker, testing McCarthy’s support in the House of Representatives, which his party controls by a narrow 221-212 margin.
Gaetz is one of a group of about two dozen hardliners who forced McCarthy to endure a withering 15 rounds of voting in January before he was elected speaker, during which they squeezed out concessions including a rule change to allow any one House member to call for a vote to oust the speaker.
It was not clear how much support McCarthy would have in such a vote, or whether any Democrats would back him. McCarthy angered Democrats last month by launching an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden.
McCarthy stunned Washington on Saturday when he backed a bill to fund the government through Nov. 17, averting a partial shutdown but not imposing any of the spending cuts or changes to border security that his hardline colleagues had called for.
The bill, which was approved by the Senate on a broad bipartisan basis and signed into law by Biden, is meant to give lawmakers more time to agree on a deal to fund the government through September 30, 2024.
McCarthy decided to bring a vote on a measure that could win Democratic support, knowing full well that it could jeopardise his job.
The bipartisan measure succeeded a day after Republican Representative Andy Biggs, a leading hardliner, and 20 others blocked a Republican stopgap bill that contained sharp spending cuts and immigration and border restrictions, all of which hardliners favour. The bill’s failure ended Republican hopes of moving a conservative measure and opened the door to the bipartisan measure that was backed by 209 House Democrats and 126 Republicans. Ninety Republicans opposed the stopgap.
Hardliners complained that the measure, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, left in place policies favoured by Democrats including Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. — Reuters
Hardline Republican Representative Matt Gaetz told multiple US media outlets he would file a “motion to vacate,” a call for a vote to remove McCarthy as speaker, testing McCarthy’s support in the House of Representatives, which his party controls by a narrow 221-212 margin.
Gaetz is one of a group of about two dozen hardliners who forced McCarthy to endure a withering 15 rounds of voting in January before he was elected speaker, during which they squeezed out concessions including a rule change to allow any one House member to call for a vote to oust the speaker.
It was not clear how much support McCarthy would have in such a vote, or whether any Democrats would back him. McCarthy angered Democrats last month by launching an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden.
McCarthy stunned Washington on Saturday when he backed a bill to fund the government through Nov. 17, averting a partial shutdown but not imposing any of the spending cuts or changes to border security that his hardline colleagues had called for.
The bill, which was approved by the Senate on a broad bipartisan basis and signed into law by Biden, is meant to give lawmakers more time to agree on a deal to fund the government through September 30, 2024.
McCarthy decided to bring a vote on a measure that could win Democratic support, knowing full well that it could jeopardise his job.
The bipartisan measure succeeded a day after Republican Representative Andy Biggs, a leading hardliner, and 20 others blocked a Republican stopgap bill that contained sharp spending cuts and immigration and border restrictions, all of which hardliners favour. The bill’s failure ended Republican hopes of moving a conservative measure and opened the door to the bipartisan measure that was backed by 209 House Democrats and 126 Republicans. Ninety Republicans opposed the stopgap.
Hardliners complained that the measure, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, left in place policies favoured by Democrats including Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. — Reuters