McCarthy vows to survive overthrow threat if he avoids shutdown

The top Republican in the House of Representatives USA, Kevin McCarthy, said Sunday that he hoped to survive a threat to his presidency after a hardline critic within his party called for his ouster following the passage of a stopgap government funding bill that gained more support. from Democrats than from Republicans.

Hardline Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz told several US media outlets that he would file a “motion for annulment”, a call for a vote to remove McCarthy as speaker, testing McCarthy’s support in the House of Representatives, which his party controls by a narrow 221-212 margin. margin.

Gaetz is among a group of about two dozen hardliners who forced McCarthy to endure 15 withering rounds of voting in January before he was elected president, during which they won concessions, including a rule change to allow anyone member of the House to request a vote to remove the president.

It was unclear how much support McCarthy would have on that vote, or whether any Democrats would back him. McCarthy angered Democrats last month by launching an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

“If this time next week Kevin McCarthy is still speaker of the House, it will be because the Democrats rescued him,” Gaetz said in an interview on ABC. “I am relentless and will continue to pursue this goal.”

McCarthy surprised Washington on Saturday when he backed a bill to fund the government through Nov. 17, avoiding a partial shutdown but not imposing any of the spending cuts or changes to border security that his hardline colleagues had called for.

The bill, which was passed by the Senate on a bipartisan basis and signed into law by Biden, aims to give lawmakers more time to reach a deal to fund the government through September 30, 2024.

An impeachment of the president would complicate that process

“It is destructive for the country to present this motion for annulment”Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican, said on ABC. “By presenting this eviction motion on the floor, do you know what Matt Gaetz is going to do? He is going to delay the ability to complete that work for the next 45 days.”

Gaetz had been threatening to move against McCarthy for weeks.

Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, a member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus who had been nominated to challenge McCarthy for president in January, declined to say how he would vote.

“I do not know now”Donalds said in an interview on Fox. “I have to think about it a lot because there is a lot going on.”

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) spoke to reporters at the Capitol after the House passed a stopgap government funding bill to avoid an immediate government shutdown .

‘Go ahead and try it’

McCarthy decided to vote on a measure that could win Democratic support, knowing full well that it could jeopardize his job. One of his advisers told Reuters that the president believed some hardliners would try to overthrow him under any circumstances.

“Go ahead and try it.”McCarthy said in comments to his opponents on Saturday.. “Did you know? “If I have to risk my job to defend the American public, I will.”

Biden told reporters on Sunday that he hoped McCarthy had learned from the weekend back-and-forth.

“I hope that this experience for the speaker has been a personal revelation”Biden said, leaving it up to congressional Democrats to decide whether to give McCarthy their support to keep his presidency.

The bipartisan measure succeeded a day after Republican Rep. Andy Biggs, a hardline leader, and 20 others blocked a stopgap Republican bill that contained deep spending cuts and restrictions on immigration and borders, all of which which hardliners support.

The bill’s failure ended Republican hopes of pushing through a conservative measure and opened the door to the bipartisan measure that was backed by 209 House Democrats and 126 Republicans. Ninety Republicans opposed the stopgap measure.

Hardliners complained that the measure, known as a continuing resolution or CR, maintained policies favored by Democrats, including Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker , Nancy Pelosi.

The democratic response is not clear

It was unclear what action Democrats could take if a Republican tried to vacate the presidency and the House voted on the measure.

Some Democrats have suggested they might support McCarthy if an overthrow attempt occurred at a turbulent time. Others have suggested they could back a moderate Republican willing to share the gavel with them and allow power-sharing within House committees. Others have shown no interest in helping any presidential candidate other than House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.

U.S. Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, a prominent progressive Democrat, said her party was unlikely to help McCarthy keep her job without receiving concessions from Republicans.

“I don’t think we will give up voting for free”Ocasio-Cortez told CNN’s State of the Union.

When asked if she would vote on a measure to unseat McCarthy, Ocasio-Cortez said: “Would you cast that vote? Absolutely. Absolutely. I think Kevin McCarthy is a very weak president. He has clearly lost control of his group.”