US Speaker Kevin McCarthy removed in historic vote
In a first for the United States, the Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted on Tuesday joined by a few Republicans; his own party. This Republican infighting has again pulled the Congress into more disorder after a few days of avoiding government shutdown.
McCarthy had become Speaker after quarrelsome voting process, he then replaced Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House and less than a year after taking the seat he has lost the seat.
The 216-to-210 vote marked the first time in history that the House removed its leader, with eight Republicans voting with 208 Democrats to remove McCarthy. McCarthy told reporters he would not make another run for speaker.
McCarthy has said “I fought for what I believe in, “I believe I can continue to fight, but maybe in a different manner.” Meaning he is not running again for Speaker.
Things being the way they look now, the US House will go without a leader for a while, as Republicans say they have a meeting planned for Oct.10 when it is thought that they will decide on possible successors, and a vote for new Speaker planned to be set on Oct. 11.
The ousting was led by Representative Matt Gaetz who has for sometime been McCarthy’s adversary and spearheaded this move after McCarthy relied on Democrats votes to pass a bill with the goal of avoiding a partial government shutdown. Some Republican House members had condemned Gaetz in advance of the vote to oust McCarthy.
