Source: Wall Street News
On Tuesday, October 3, EST, an event that went down in history occurred in the US House of Representatives: McCarthy became the first Speaker of the House of Representatives to be ousted in more than 200 years of US history.
In the House of Representatives vote on Tuesday, the motion to remove McCarthy from office received 216 votes in favor and 210 against. As the leader of the Republican Party, the majority party in the House of Representatives, McCarthy can be said to be rebellious and separated this time, and was ousted by “his own people.”
In this first vote to remove the Speaker of the House of Representatives since 1910, eight members of the party voted in favor. Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, who proposed the motion to remove him, is also a Republican. Gaetz blamed McCarthy for not doing enough to cut federal spending.
In this vote, McCarthy did not receive support from any Democratic congressman. Democratic lawmakers said that McCarthy violated the spending agreement he reached with US President Joe Biden in May to suspend the debt ceiling. They think McCarthy is untrustworthy, and furious at his decision to approve the presidential impeachment investigation.
According to the media, the eight Republican lawmakers who supported the removal of McCarthy were hardliners within the party. Wall Street News once mentioned that due to obstruction from Republican hardliners, the House of Representatives led by McCarthy had previously been slow to pass bills related to government spending, which almost caused the US federal government to shut down on the first day of the new fiscal year on October 1.
It wasn't until last Saturday, just a few hours before closing, that the US Congress passed a short-term spending bill to temporarily keep the government running in mid-November.
Even so, the bill was opposed by nearly half of Republican lawmakers when the House of Representatives voted on it. Of the 91 members of the House of Representatives who voted against, only 1 was a Democrat, reflecting the huge differences within the Republican Party and growing dissatisfaction with McCarthy.
The passage of the bill temporarily avoided a government shutdown, and at the same time marked a “break” between McCarthy and the Republicans. As a result, some Republicans threatened to remove him from the post of Speaker of Parliament, that is, to file a “no confidence motion.”
Some commentators say that after McCarthy dramatically passed the bill last Saturday to gain support from the Democrats, actions to oust him have actually begun swiftly.
In the debate before the vote to remove McCarthy this Tuesday, Gaetz, who proposed the removal motion, and some of his supporters criticized McCarthy, relied on Democrats' votes to pass the temporary funding bill, and avoided a government shutdown. Republican Bob Good said that we need the Speaker of the House of Representatives to fight for anything, not to stay in that position and fight.
After voting ended on Tuesday, Congressman Patrick McHenry (Patrick McHenry), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, known to the outside world as McCarthy's close comrade, served as interim Speaker because McCarthy was ousted. House Republicans plan to meet Tuesday evening to discuss next steps.
It is currently unclear who will be the candidate for the next Speaker of Parliament. According to some media, many supporters of McCarthy said they intend to nominate him to vote for the new Speaker of Parliament. Some Republican leaders have already nominated possible replacements, including Republican Party whip Tom Emmer and Republican leader Steve Scalise. Both have been welcomed by ordinary Republican lawmakers.
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