Gaetz tries to push out McCarthy after deal averts shutdown
Follow the latest updates as spending bill is signed by Joe Biden, temporarily preventing shutdown
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Matt Gaetz will offer a motion to vacate the chair in an attempt to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the far-right Florida Republican told CNN on Sunday morning.
This comes after MAGA Republicans were outraged by Mr McCarthy striking a deal with Democrats on Saturday to avert a government shutdown.
“I do intend to file a motion to vacate against Speaker McCarthy this week. I think we need to rip off the band-aid. I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy,” Mr Gaetz told CNN.
Meanwhile, House Republicans seem eager to exact revenge against Mr Gaetz.
News outlets reported on Sunday that Republicans in the lower chamber are looking towards the conclusion of a House Ethics Committee probe into the Republican congressman from Florida in the hopes that the probe’s findings could warrant (or excuse) his expulsion from the chamber.
Donald Trump called for Rep Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) to be put in jail for pulling a fire alarm in the US Capitol complex on Saturday.
The former president bizarrely claimed that Mr Bowman’s behaviour was worse than that of the rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Gaetz could be expelled from House over ethics case amid face-off with McCarthy
Gaetz seeks to oust Speaker McCarthy after shutdown deal with Dems
AOC says she’d consider backing Gaetz push to oust McCarthy as House speaker’s future in question
Ukraine aid left out of US government funding package, raising questions about future support
Gaetz seeks to oust Speaker McCarthy after shutdown deal with Dems
Matt Gaetz will offer a motion to vacate the chair in an attempt to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the far-right Florida Republican told CNN.
This comes after MAGA Republicans were outraged by Mr McCarthy striking a deal with Democrats on Saturday to avert a government shutdown.
“I do intend to file a motion to vacate against Speaker McCarthy this week. I think we need to rip off the band aid. I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy,” Mr Gaetz told CNN.
“Look, the one thing everybody has in common is that nobody trusts Kevin McCarthy,” he added. “He lied to Biden, he lied to House conservatives. He had appropriators marking to a different number altogether. And the reason we were backed up against the shutdown politics is not a bug of the system. It’s a feature.”
Pelosi says Gaetz ‘has no sway in the House’ after he calls for McCarthy ouster
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded to Matt Gaetz saying he would attempt to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy during an appearance on CNN on Sunday.
“You’re wasting your time on that guy because he has no sway in the House of Representatives,” she told CNN.
Pelosi urges Dems to follow Jeffries’ lead on Gaetz’s effort to oust McCarthy
Ms Pelosi told CNN that Democrats should “follow the leader” and listen to Rep Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) on whether to help Mr McCarthy retain the speaker’s gavel.
Catastrophic shutdown averted as McCarthy sides with Democrats over far right in his own party
The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass a funding resolution and keep the federal government open on Saturday after Speaker Kevin McCarthy ended his attempts to work with far-right hardliners and instead cut a deal with Democrats.
After several weeks of negotiations and pitched battles in GOP caucus meetings and the press, Mr McCarthy took the most likely option and averted a government shutdown that would have likely cost the US economy millions of dollars and have been politically damaging for his own party. Now, he faces the prospect of governing over a Republican House caucus where his authority is weaker than ever before.
Dozens of Republicans opposed the measure but were unable to clear the 1/3 margin necessary to defeat the resolution under suspended House rules. Conservatives in his caucus were fuming openly to reporters while their Democratic colleagues celebrated during the vote. The final tally on the 45-day measure was 335-91 in favor of the measure; more Democrats than Republicans ended up supporting it in perhaps the clearest view of Mr McCarthy’s tough spot.
Gaetz says that if McCarty remains as speaker, he’ll be ‘working for Democrats'
Gaetz told CNN on Sunday that “next week, if Kevin McCarthy is still speaker of the House, he will be serving at the pleasure of the Democrats. He will be working for the Democrats”.
AOC says she would vote to oust McCarthy
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said she would vote to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy on CNN’s State of the Union.
“My vote beginning this term for Speaker of the House was for Hakeem Jeffries and I do not intend on voting for a Republican Speaker of the House,” she said. “But I believe that it’s up to the Republican conference to determine their own leadership and deal with their own problems. It’s not up to Democrats to save Republicans, from themselves especially.”
Asked if some Democrats would vote to save the speaker, she said: “I certainly don’t think that we would expect to see that unless there’s a real conversation between the Republican and Democratic caucuses and Republican and Democratic leadership about what that would mean, but I don’t think we give up votes for free.”
Asked if she would vote to boot Mr McCarthy, she said: “Absolutely. I think Kevin McCarthy is a very weak speaker. He clearly has lost control of his caucus. He has brought the United States and millions of Americans to the brink waiting until the final hour to to keep the government open and even then only issuing a 45-day extension.”
“So we’re going to be right back in this place in November. And, you know, I think that our main priority has to be the American people and what’s going to keep our governance in a cohesive and strong place. But unless Kevin McCarthy asks for a vote again, I don’t think we give something away for free,” she added.
AOC roasts Republicans for filing motions to expel Bowman after fire alarm controversy
Ms Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) slammed Republicans for filing motions to expel Rep Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) after he was seen pulling a fire alarm as he was rushing to a vote on Saturday.
“What I do think is important to raise is the fact that Republicans ... immediately moved to file motions to censure motions to expel before there have even been conversations ... to even see if there was a misunderstanding here,” she told CNN on Sunday morning.
“What they did not do was to commit to the same when George Santos was actually found guilty after a thorough investigation of 13 federal charges,” she added. “He's indicted on everything from wire fraud to actual lying [to] House investigators, and they have been buddying up and giggling with him on the House floor and they are protecting someone who has lied to the American people, lied to the United States House of Representatives, lied to congressional investigators, but they're ... filing a motion to expel a member who in a moment of panic was trying to escape a vestibule. Give me a break!”
“And so the idea that there is somehow any kind of equivalence to someone who is actively trying to clear up a situation that he himself admits he's embarrassed [by], he released a statement last night, he apologised and they are protecting someone who has not only committed wire fraud, not only defrauded veterans, not only lied to congressional investigators but is openly gloating about it,” she noted.
She argued that it’s “absolutely humiliating to the Republican caucus and I think that they should really check their own values”.
Pro-Trump Republicans furious as their own party scotches shutdown threat at 11th hour
Conservative pro-Trump Republicans raged after the House of Representatives passed a stop-gap spending bill to keep the government open for 45 days, saying it would prevent spending cuts that they had hoped to pass.
The House voted 335 to 91 for a stopgap spending bill called a continuing resolution (CR) as it continues to pass the 12 spending bills before the end of the year.
House conservatives have long opposed passing continuing resolutions and hoped to use the appropriations process to pass right-wing policies despite the fact they had little chance of the Democratic-controlled Senate passing them or President Joe Biden signing them.
The continuing resolution did not include any riders but simply extended spending to the same levels they were last year, although it did not include spending for Ukraine.
“We lost our leverage,” Rep Ralph Norman (R-SC), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told The Independent. “People up here that never would surrender anything, I mean anything, they just were not going to have a shutdown. So that’s the way it worked.”
AOC: There are no moderates in the GOP
Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) argued on Sunday on CNN that there are no moderates in the GOP.
“There are just different degrees of fealty to Donald Trump. But it starts with a lot of fealty and goes to extreme fealty… We saw them run around the House like a Roomba until they found a door that Democrats opened,” she said on State of The Union.
Jamaal Bowman ‘embarrassed to admit’ he pulled fire alarm during House vote
Rep Jamaal Bowman admitted on Saturday that he pulled a fire alarm during a House vote but denied he did so to delay it.
The New York Democrat and member of the so-called Squad of progressive lawmakers faced criticism from Republicans and others after CCTV showed him pulling a fire alarm in a House office building amid a vote to pass a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open.
Mr Bowman released a statement late on Saturday evening claiming that he was trying to open a door that was locked.
“Today, as I was rushing to make a vote, I came to a door that is usually open for votes but today would not open,” he said. “I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door. I regret this and sincerely apologize for any confusion this caused.”
Republicans accused him of pulling the fire alarm to try to stall a vote to pass the bill, called a continuing resolution, that would continue funding the federal government. This came around the time that Democrats had said they needed time to read the text of the continuing resolution before they voted for the bill.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments