The road to the presidency of the US House of Representatives was rocky for Kevin McCarthy. After a violent budget dispute over the weekend, his party’s right-wing fringes are once again making life difficult for him — and seeking a rare move.
US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is facing extraordinary pressure to resign. A Republican MP from the far-right wing of the Parliamentary Committee. Matt Gates on Monday introduced a motion to recall his party colleague, McCarthy. Getz did not propose an alternate speaker to the House of Representatives.
The backdrop of a recent deal on an interim budget through Nov. 17 averted an impending gridlock in government business over the weekend. McCarthy relied on Democratic votes to get the bridge funding approved. Earlier, his budget proposals failed due to opposition from hardliners in his party.
Rebellion on the extreme right fringes
Rep. Gates had been threatening to fire McCarthy for months. The dispute has now escalated after the so-called shutdown was avoided. Kevin said he has enough Republicans on his side “so that one of two things will happen next week: Kevin McCarthy will no longer be Speaker of the House or he will be Speaker of the House working at the mercy of Democrats.”
McCarthy appeared belligerent again. “Bring it on,” he replied.
A historical step with an uncertain outcome
Getz’s proposal does not mean McCarthy will automatically lose his job. This requires a majority in the House of Representatives. A referendum can also be blocked by motions. The Congress will have to deal with this in the coming days. No Speaker of the House of Representatives has ever lost his office as a result of such a move, and such a move has occurred only occasionally in recent decades.
Gates was one of more than a dozen right-wing Republicans who voted repeatedly against McCarthy’s bid for speaker in January. McCarthy won by 15 votes. A prerequisite for his victory in the January vote was that McCarthy agreed to a change in rules that would allow a member of the House of Representatives to request a vote to remove a Republican, known in English as the “Speaker.” Radical MPs have relentlessly pushed McCarthy ever since.
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