Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a chief tormentor of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, effectively said on the House floor Tuesday evening that he was on the brink of filing a motion to vacate to try to oust the California Republican from the speaker’s chair. Here’s what Gaetz said:
“The one thing I agree with my Democrat colleagues on is that for the last eight months this House has been poorly led. And we own that and we have to do something about it. And you know what? My Democrat colleagues will have an opportunity to do something about that, too. And we will see if they bail out our failed speaker.”
The motion to vacate was raised at the House Freedom Caucus’s weekly meeting, as well.
McCarthy told reporters once again on Tuesday night that he wasn’t worried about Gaetz:
“Look, people have got to get over personal differences… He never voted for me to start out with [in January]. I don’t assume he’s changing his position. He said a lot of things and we made it through it.”
The best case for McCarthy here is that if Gaetz files a motion to vacate, some Democrats would vote with a strong majority of Republicans to table it. The question for McCarthy would then be what does he have to do in return.
And if McCarthy remains speaker with the help of Democrats, how would he be able to manage the House Republican Conference?
— Jake Sherman, Mica Soellner and John Bresnahan
