Kevin McCarthy’s hardline Republican opponents ousted him for compromising with Democrats
The US House of Representatives voted 216 to 210 on Tuesday to oust California Republican Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker. Throughout his short tenure, McCarthy has faced persistent opposition from the right for compromising with Democrats on government funding and aid to Ukraine.
Florida Republican Matt Gaetz introduced a motion to fire McCarthy on Monday, two days after McCarthy rallied GOP lawmakers to pass a bill funding the US government until November 17. Gaetz and a cohort of hardline conservatives opposed any attempt to combine funding for different government agencies into a single bill, with Gaetz warning that he would move to oust McCarthy if the bill passed.
Gaetz was able to introduce a motion against McCarthy thanks to a compromise reached between the California Republican and Gaetz’ ‘Freedom Caucus’ allies in January, in which the hardliners agreed to back his bid for speakership in exchange for the ability to remove him from office if they lost confidence in his leadership.
Even though McCarthy dropped military aid for the Ukrainian army from the funding bill, Gaetz still accused the now ex-speaker of cutting “a secret side-deal” with President Joe Biden, claiming on Monday that McCarthy had shared details of the apparent deal with Republican lawmakers.
