This was published 11 months ago
Republican chaos, division grips Congress
Washington: Top Republican Kevin McCarthy will face a far-right mutiny to remove him as Speaker of the House of Representatives after he worked with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown that would have left millions of Americans without pay and key services.
Less than a day after Congress was able to temporarily stop the US government from running out of money, one of McCarthy’s fiercest critics, Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, an ally of former president Donald Trump, said he would seek to oust McCarthy from his job later this week.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy.Credit: AP
The move will be the first time anyone has tested the new “motion to vacate” rule that McCarthy agreed to in January in order to get enough votes to become Speaker, essentially making it easier for rebels in his own party to remove him.
And while the Speaker insisted on Sunday he would have the numbers to survive such a vote - and told Gaetz to “bring it on” - it would nonetheless throw the Congress into disarray and further undermine his already diminished authority within the party.
The escalation of tensions within the Republican Party comes after Congress on Saturday was able to pass a stopgap bill to avoid what would have been the federal government’s fourth partial shutdown in a decade and allow money to continue flowing - at least for now.
Had a shutdown occurred - which looked all but inevitable until the last minute - millions of troops and public servants would have been furloughed or left without pay, travellers could have faced airport chaos across the country and poor families would have struggled to access much-needed services and food assistance.
Representative Matt Gaetz.Credit: AP
The stopgap bill will instead keep agencies open for 45 days and funded at current levels, allowing Congress to buy some time as it works on a longer-term solution.
Controversially, however, it did not include additional funding for Ukraine- an issue that has divided Republicans. This was a blow for Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, who had just met with president Joe Biden and politicians last week to once again make the case for additional funds for Kyiv’s defence against Moscow.
Speaking at the White House on Sunday, Biden - who signed off on the 11th hour bill - acknowledged the lack of funding for Ukraine but said he couldn’t justify the pain that would have been inflicted on Americans if a shutdown had occurred. He nonetheless sought to assure Ukraine that the support of its allies was unwavering.
“I hope my friends on the other side keep their word about support for Ukraine - they said they’re going to support Ukraine in a separate vote,” Biden said.
“We cannot, under any circumstance, allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted.”
The stopgap bill was able to pass after McCarthy backed down from an earlier demand by his party’s hardliners for more partisan legislation and abandoned their insistence that any bill pass the House with only Republican votes.
Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Gaetz accused McCarthy of reneging on an agreement he had made with House conservatives in January to address government overspending, and that the deal he made with Democrats “to really blow past a lot of the spending guardrails we set up is a last straw.”
“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 will be trustworthy,” he said.
“The only way Kevin McCarthy is speaker of the House at the end of this coming week is if Democrats bail him out.”
It is not clear how much support McCarthy would have in the event of such a vote, or whether any Democrats would back him, particularly after he angered Democrats last month by launching an impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden in a failed bid to once again appease his right flank.
However, progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared on Sunday that she would “absolutely” vote to oust McCarthy, describing him as a “very week speaker” who had “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 keep the government open, and even then, only issuing a 45-day extension,” she said.
McCarthy dismissed concerns about being ousted, telling reporters on Saturday: “If I have to risk my job for standing up for the American public, I will do that.”
Speaking on Sunday in response to Gaetz’s threat, he said:
Speaking on Sunday in response to Gaetz’s threat, McCarthy said: “I’ll survive. This is personal with Matt… He’s more interested in securing TV interviews than doing something.”
“He wanted to push us into a shutdown - even threaten his own district with all the military there with people who would not be paid - only because he wants to take this motion,” he told CBS. “So be it, bring it on and let’s get over with it, and let’s start governing.”
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