The remarks, confirmed to NBC News by two sources in a closed-door meeting, reflect renewed tension within the House Republican ranks as a government shutdown looms.
Frustration boiled over in a closed-door House GOP meeting Thursday morning when Speaker Kevin McCarthy all but dared his detractors to file the “motion to vacate” the speaker’s chair and try to remove him.
In the meeting, McCarthy told House Republicans, “If you want to file a motion to vacate, then file the f—ing motion,” according to two sources in the room who confirmed the comments to NBC News.
It was a nod to members including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and others who are threatening to force him out of the speakership if he doesn’t comply with their demands, like putting certain bills on the floor and not passing a stopgap bill to prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month.
They absolutely do have the votes to oust him. Every Democrat can be relied on to vote for vacating, so all it takes is five Freedom Caucus nutjobs to do it.
The reason they haven’t yet is there is no plan for what happens next. The nutjobs don’t have support to get one of their own to be Speaker. It would probably result in a more moderate Republican getting chosen, particularly if that person brokers some support from Democrats in exchange for sticking to the debt ceiling deal.
I rather doubt that’s true. If for no other reason than helping the Freedom Caucus vacate the Speakers Chair would almost certainly guarantee a Government Shutdown on 10/1.
… which they can then blame directly on Republicans.
And in the meantime, they can start to float conservative Republican candidates for Speaker who they would be willing to support. If one of those wins, now the power of the Freedom Caucus is greatly diminished, because the Speaker no longer owes their job to them.
I’m not sure that would play over as well as you imagine it does.
I would be pissed if my reps did this and wouldn’t vote for them again. Because the problem with brinksmanship is that at some point, ya gotta grab the other guy and jump, just to prove that you will.
Let’s be clear on what would be going on here, though. If there is a motion to vacate, it would be offered by someone else like Gaetz to punish Kevin for his lack of orthodoxy. Democrats are under no obligation at all to make life easier on Republicans. They shouldn’t throw Kevin any lifelines without getting any consessions out of it – and Kevin can’t offer those concessions, because he has already let the Freedom Caucus control his Speakership.
In normal times, nobody would expect Democrats to do anything other than vote for Jeffries for Speaker, whenever the Republicans let them.
It’s just like what happened after the Debt Ceiling deal. There are procedural votes to adopt the agendas. The minority party typically votes against these because they are expected to. But after the deal, the Freedom Caucus got porky and started voting with the Democrats, just for Chaos’s sake. The House did nothing for a few days until Kevin made some more concessions.
I think you are missing the fact that they already got the concessions. McCarthy and Biden worked it out back in June but if Democrats go along with the Freedom Caucus in vacating the Speakers Chair then the deal goes away with McCarthy.
McCarthy is catching flak from the FC because he gave those concessions. Like I said feel free to despise McCarthy but in this case he IS the Bi-Partisanship you are looking for.
Like it or not that’s McCarthy. NO Republican after McCarthy is going to rise to the Speakership without support from either the Democrats or the Freedom Caucus. Any Republican Moderate enough to get a thumbs up from the Dems will will lose FC support and on the other hand any Republican that could get FC support will be unpalatable to Democrats.
The best thing that can happen is for Dems to back McCarthy if necessary and break the FCs power. If they refuse to do it, which is their prerogative, then McCarthy will fall and we will have a Government shutdown. So would you rather a lengthy Government shutdown or to break the FCs power by offering minimal temporary support to McCarthy? That’s pretty much the choice.
This. And lets be honest, the reason these budget negotiations have become such a frequent political football is because they are must-pass.
Should the Dems hold out for a little extra? sure. get what you can. But like… they can’t afford to piss off independents with the way things are going, and we’re not so stupid as to miss that they too voted that way. or to realize that government shutdowns hurt… everyone.
Let the FC’s vote to remove McCarthy. let the world see how fucking stupid the Republicans are- and how obstructionist and unprofessional. but don’t shut down the government over it.
History shows voters aren’t dumb and tehy blame the correct party for shutdowns