Category: Pure Politics

Even with Republican conference having chosen Majority Leader Steve Scalise as their nominee for Speaker earlier today, the House is currently in recess.  One of the many remaining questions following the internal party vote was what Jim Jordan, who ran against Scalise, would do.  Since the vote, Jordan has pledged to support Scalise.  Even with that development, it appears that Scalise still does not have the 217 votes locked up needed within the party.  

A host of other uncertainties remain, including what Jordan supporters plan to do as well as questions around where the diehard supporters of Kevin McCarthy supporters might fall.  If Democrats vote together for their own leader as Speaker, Scalise can only afford to lose four Republicans on the floor.  More than four Republican have come out publicly this afternoon to say that they will oppose Scalise.

The majority is trying to avoid a floor vote on Speaker resembling the 15 rounds that the House had to go through in January.

Stay tuned for updates.

By a vote of 113 to 99, House Republicans have chosen Steve Scalise of Louisiana as their nominee for Speaker.  He currently serves as the Majority Leader and was in competition with Jim Jordan of Ohio, who currently chairs the Judiciary Committee.  Although he won the nomination, it remains unclear whether he can actually garner enough votes on the House floor when the entire chamber reconvenes to actually elect a new Speaker, as the Democrats are expected to vote for their leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, for that position.

The House could reconvene and vote today.

Now that Kevin McCarthy of California has been removed as Speaker, the House of Representatives is collectively asking this morning, “Well, now what?”  

After the final vote on the motion to vacate the Speakership passed 216 to 210, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina took over the position of Speaker Pro Tem and recessed the House.  McHenry was named to that role by McCarthy back in January when he became Speaker, in order to ensure that the House remained functional in case of a disaster.

A number of questions immediately arose after yesterday’s vote, such as:

• Would McCarthy run again?  If so, could he win?
• Who else would run for Speaker?  
• Who are the front-runners?
• When would the House vote?
• Could anyone get 218 votes from the current House Republican conference?

The House Republicans met yesterday afternoon/evening to discuss these and other issues.  Things do not appear to be any clearer this morning.

McCarthy announced that he would not seek to reclaim the position.  There were no names officially offered as a replacement during the meeting. 

The House has recessed until next Tuesday, meaning no legislative activity can take place until that evening at the earliest.  The chamber had been scheduled to take up several appropriations bills this week.

The recess was called in order for the House Republicans to set out a path forward, including providing time for those interested in pursuing the Speaker position to connect with their colleagues to gauge the level of support.

The House is truly navigating through uncharted territory at this point.

Read more about the developments here, here, and here. 

The House of Representatives is, as of this afternoon, now navigating through truly uncharted territory as Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was removed from the Speakership by a vote of 216 to 210.  After a procedural vote to prevent the motion to remove McCarthy was defeated, in the end, seven other Republicans voted with Matt Gaetz and all Democrats to remove him from the Speakership.

The House must now regroup and pick a new Speaker.  Whether there is a logical successor remains to be seen.  Whether McCarthy runs to reclaim the spot is also unknown.  These are just two of the myriad questions about where we go from here.

Read more about the historic developments here, here, and here. 

So… as the House made a last-minute move to avoid a government shutdown over the weekend, it has led to a vote scheduled for this afternoon that could see the House Speaker removed, in essence, by members of his own party.

Hard-right member Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who has made it clear since January– when it took 15 rounds of voting to elect Kevin McCarthy of California as Speaker– that he has been unhappy with McCarthy, used as his final justification the continuing resolution and the supposed negotiations around it to file a motion to remove the Speaker late yesterday.  The House is scheduled vote on that motion this afternoon.  Gaetz has been the most public and vociferous of a group of hard-core right-wing members of the House Republican conference that has sought concessions from the Speaker since the beginning of this Congress.  Apparently, at least for him, the CR was the last straw.

A House Speaker has never been removed during a session and numerous questions abound about how things might unfold:

• Will a “motion to table” the vote– or kill the motion– before there is an actual vote on the motion succeed?
• If there is an actual floor vote, how many Republicans will join Gaetz in voting to remove McCarthy?
• It’s clear that the vast majority of the Republican conference supports McCarthy.  Will Democrats help McCarthy in anyway to stay in power?
• Who would replace McCarthy?

These are only a handful of questions that will be answered relatively shortly.

Read more about the situation here, here, and here.