For the first time in United States history, the Speaker of the House has been removed. Representative from California’s 20th Congressional district and the nation’s 55th Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, was recently voted out of office as of Oct. 3, 2023.
Kevin McCarthy had only been in this role since January of this year, finally winning the Speaker gavel after a historic 15 rounds of voting. His Speakership came with key contingencies that eventually led to his political demise. Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz along with other hardliner Republicans refused to vote for McCarthy unless he agreed to a provision that allowed only one member to propose a resolution to remove the Speaker. Two hundred sixty nine days later, that concession would kill his Speakership.
McCarthy collaborated with Democrats to pass a stopgap spending bill in a last minute ditch to prevent an impending government shutdown, only hours before the midnight deadline. This was after weeks of projection that McCarthy would stick with the hardliners and allow the government to shut down in order to keep his job.
A government shutdown would have been disastrous, leading to federal employees not getting paid and the halting of services such as obtaining federal benefits and loans. National parks would have been shut down and nobody without a visa would have been able to leave the county.
During the chaos leading up to the stopgap vote, Gaetz and a group of eight other hardliner Republicans threatened to oust McCarthy if he collaborated with Democrats to pass a spending bill in order to keep the government open. McCarthy did just that, leading Gaetz to petition for the vote to remove McCarthy from office. Along with the entire Democratic Party, McCarthy became the first speaker ousted from office by 216–210 votes.
According to USA Today resident Joe Biden stated,“I know it’s going to take some time. But I remind everyone: We have a lot of work to do, and the American people expect us to get it done.”
Congress is working to find a replacement for McCarthy, who has stated his refusal to re-run for the position.
McCarthy claims, “At the end of the day, if you throw a Speaker out that has 99% of their conference, that kept the government open and paid the troops, I think we’re in a really bad place for how we’re gonna run Congress”, according to NBC News.
As of press time, Republican supporter of McCarthy Patrick McHenry currently holds temporary office and is liable to hold it until the election of a new speaker, though the House has been brought to a recess after the chaotic events as of late.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana threw their hats in the ring in the aftermath of McCarthy’s ousting. Jordan is a favorite of the party and receiver of personal backing from former President Trump in his candidacy. Scalise was nominated by Republicans to replace McCarthy as speaker, but Scalise dropped his Speaker bid 36 hours after his nomination after struggling to gain support from hardliner Republicans.
Republican Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia entered the race for House Speaker after Scalise dropped out, but lost the GOP’s nomination to Jordan. However, Jordan is also struggling to gain the support he needs to become Speaker of the House.
Democrats are united in their support for Minority Leader Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, whom they want as Speaker. However, since Republicans control the House, it is unlikely that Jeffries will win the gavel.
Jeff Isola, an AP Government teacher, said, “I feel this action is just a microcosm of what has been happening within the Republican Party for the last ten years. The decision to remove the “institutional” Republican, [who are] willing to compromise with Democrats, in hopes of replacing McCarthy with a more right-wing/Trump-aligned Congressman, and the subsequent failure to do so, illustrates how fractured the overall party has become.”
