Rep. Matt Gaetz on Monday moved to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy from the top House leadership post, offering a motion to vacate the chair on the House floor – a rare procedural move that can be used to force a vote to remove the speaker.
It’s not yet clear how the challenge to McCarthy will play out, but the effort represents the most serious threat to his speakership to date. A floor vote to oust McCarthy would require a majority to succeed.
“Bring it on,” the California Republican wrote on X shortly after the motion. Gaetz responded to the post with one of his own, writing, “Just did.”
The move marks a major escalation in tensions for a House GOP conference that has been mired in in-fighting and could be thrown into chaos if McCarthy is pushed out of the speakership. It comes as a bloc of House conservatives have continued to thwart McCarthy, voting against key priorities of GOP leadership and repeatedly throwing up roadblocks to the speaker’s agenda.
No House speaker has ever been ousted through the passage of a resolution to remove them, but threats over the use of what’s known as a “motion to vacate” can be a powerful way to apply pressure to a speaker.
Gaetz, a Florida Republican and frequent critic of McCarthy, had been pushing to oust the speaker by using the congressional mechanism to vacate the chair, which allows any one member the ability to call for a new speaker election, though GOP leadership has a few options to stop or stall such an effort.
According to House precedent, a resolution to remove the speaker would be considered privileged, a designation that gives it priority over other issues.
It’s not yet clear how the challenge to McCarthy will play out, but the effort represents the most serious threat to his speakership to date. A floor vote to oust McCarthy would require a majority to succeed.
“Bring it on,” the California Republican wrote on X shortly after the motion. Gaetz responded to the post with one of his own, writing, “Just did.”
The move marks a major escalation in tensions for a House GOP conference that has been mired in in-fighting and could be thrown into chaos if McCarthy is pushed out of the speakership. It comes as a bloc of House conservatives have continued to thwart McCarthy, voting against key priorities of GOP leadership and repeatedly throwing up roadblocks to the speaker’s agenda.
No House speaker has ever been ousted through the passage of a resolution to remove them, but threats over the use of what’s known as a “motion to vacate” can be a powerful way to apply pressure to a speaker.
Gaetz, a Florida Republican and frequent critic of McCarthy, had been pushing to oust the speaker by using the congressional mechanism to vacate the chair, which allows any one member the ability to call for a new speaker election, though GOP leadership has a few options to stop or stall such an effort.
According to House precedent, a resolution to remove the speaker would be considered privileged, a designation that gives it priority over other issues.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Representative Matt Gaetz on Monday moved to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy from the top House
00:05 leadership post, offering a motion to vacate the chair on the House floor, a rare procedural move
00:11 that can be used to force a vote to remove the Speaker. It's not yet clear how the challenge
00:17 to McCarthy will play out, but the effort represents the most serious threat to his
00:22 speakership to date. A floor vote to oust McCarthy would require a majority to succeed.
00:30 "Bring it on," the California Republican wrote on X shortly after the motion.
00:34 Gaetz responded to the post with one of his own, writing, "Just did."
00:40 The move marks a major escalation in tensions for a House GOP conference that has been mired
00:46 in infighting and could be thrown into chaos if McCarthy is pushed out of the speakership.
00:52 It comes as a block of House conservatives have continued to thwart McCarthy, voting against key
00:58 priorities of GOP leadership and repeatedly throwing up roadblocks to the Speaker's agenda.
01:04 No House speaker has ever been ousted through the passage of a resolution to remove them,
01:10 but threats over the use of what's known as a motion to vacate can be a powerful way to
01:15 apply pressure to a Speaker. Gaetz, a Florida Republican and frequent critic of McCarthy,
01:22 had been pushing to oust the Speaker by using the congressional mechanism to vacate the chair,
01:27 which allows any one member the ability to call for a new Speaker election,
01:32 though GOP leadership has a few options to stop or stall such an effort.
01:36 According to House President, a resolution to remove the Speaker would be considered
01:43 privileged, a designation that gives it priority over other issues.
01:47 To force a vote, a member must go to the House floor and announce their intent to offer the
01:53 resolution to remove the Speaker, as Gaetz did. Doing so requires the Speaker to put the resolution
02:00 on the legislative schedule within two legislative days, setting up a showdown on the floor over the
02:06 issue. A vote on a resolution to remove the Speaker could still be preempted, however,
02:13 even once it is on track to come to the floor for consideration.
02:17 For example, when the resolution is called up on the floor, a motion to table, or kill,
02:24 the resolution could be offered and would be voted on first.
02:27 That vote would also only require a simple majority to succeed, and if it did succeed
02:34 then there would not be a vote directly on the resolution to remove the Speaker
02:38 because the resolution would instead be tabled.
02:41 McCarthy is expected to make a procedural move in an attempt to kill the measure to
02:46 remove him as Speaker, potentially as soon as Tuesday, several sources told CNN,
02:52 in a vote that would be the first sign of where his support lies.
02:56 McCarthy has several procedural options at his disposal, including the motion to table,
03:03 referring the resolution to committee or raising a question of consideration,
03:07 all of which would essentially kill the resolution and require a majority of the
03:12 chamber to succeed. If the procedural motions fail, the House will have to vote on whether
03:18 to oust him as Speaker. The last time a high-profile showdown played out on Capitol Hill over a motion
03:25 to vacate was in 2015, when then-GOP Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina
03:31 filed a resolution to declare the office of Speaker vacant while John Boehner,
03:36 an Ohio Republican, was serving as Speaker. It was not brought to a floor vote, however.
03:43 Not long after the resolution was filed, Boehner downplayed its significance,
03:49 calling it no big deal. But a few months later, he announced that he had decided to resign,
03:55 saying that he had planned to step down at the end of the year, but that turmoil within his
04:00 conference prompted him to resign earlier than planned. Gates on Monday told CNN he spoke to
04:07 former President Donald Trump about ousting McCarthy but wouldn't disclose any details
04:12 about the conversation, saying he would "keep that between the two of us."
04:16 McCarthy may need Democratic support. Gates said Monday that he has enough Republicans to either
04:24 push McCarthy from the Speakership or make him cut a deal with Democrats to remain in power.
04:30 "I have enough Republicans where at this point next week, one of two things will happen.
04:35 Kevin McCarthy won't be the Speaker of the House, or he'll be the Speaker of the House
04:41 working at the pleasure of the Democrats. And I'm at peace with either result,
04:46 because the American people deserve to know who governs them," he told CNN's Manu Raju.
04:52 McCarthy is at risk of losing five or more Republicans on an expected motion to vacate
04:58 the Speaker's chair — more defections than he can afford to lose, meaning he is certain to need
05:04 Democratic votes to survive, according to sources familiar with the matter.
05:08 Gates and Representatives Eli Crain and Bob Good have all said they will vote yes on the motion,
05:15 while Rep. Andy Biggs tells CNN he's "favorably disposed" to vote for it and Rep. Tim Burchett
05:22 says his conscience is telling him to vote him out, but he's still torn.
05:27 earlier monde