The House Republican caucus is in a state of chaos after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) essentially cut a deal with Democrats to pass a 45-day continuing resolution that extended current spending levels and kept the federal government from shutting down.
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is leading an effort to hold McCarthy to the commitments he agreed to early this year to gain support for the speakership, and Gaetz made it clear Sunday that he will attempt to oust McCarthy.
“I do intend to file a motion to vacate against Speaker McCarthy this week,” the GOP lawmaker said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I think we need to rip off the Band-Aid. I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy,” he added.
It’s not clear how much support Gaetz will have in that endeavor, but McCarthy may once again find himself needing help from Democrats to hold onto his seat. On that note, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) suggested on Sunday her party may be open to a deal to save McCarthy — for a price.
AOC on CNN says she’d “absolutely” vote to oust McCarthy as speaker pic.twitter.com/Cl2ECx99jt
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 1, 2023
“I do not intend on voting for a Republican speaker of the House,” AOC said in a separate interview on “State of the Union.”
“But I believe that it’s up to the Republican conference to determine their own leadership and deal with their own problems. But it’s not up to Democrats to save Republicans, from themselves especially,” she added.
Commenting on the possibility of negotiating with McCarthy, the self-avowed socialist lawmaker said, “I certainly don’t think that we would expect to see that unless there’s a real conversation between the Republican and Democratic caucuses and Republican-Democratic leadership about what that would mean, but I don’t think we give up votes for free.”
At the same time, Ocasio-Cortez said she would “absolutely” vote to vacate and get rid of McCarthy — which amounts to a bargaining ploy given her previous remarks.
“I think Kevin McCarthy is a very weak speaker. He clearly has lost control of his caucus,” she claimed, before adding that “unless Kevin McCarthy asks for a vote again, I don’t think we give something away for free.”
Gaetz predicted such a deal, telling host Jake Tapper, “He will be working for the Democrats. The only way that McCarthy will be speaker of the House is if Democrats bail him out.”
“I’m done owning Kevin McCarthy. We made a deal at the end of January to allow him to assume the speakership, and I’m not owning him anymore because he doesn’t tell the truth,” he added. “If Democrats want to own Kevin McCarthy by bailing him out, I can’t stop them, but then he’ll be their speaker, not mine.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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