Kevin McCarthy has been ousted as Speaker of the US House of Representatives in a brutal historic rebellion by far right Republicans.
The rebellious GOP lawmakers, furious at his cooperation with Democrats, have accused him of a string of broken promises. This is the first ouster of a speaker in the 234 year history of the House of Representatives.
On this vote the yeas are 216 the nays are 210. The resolution is adopted without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.
The Office of Speaker of the House of the United States House of Representatives is hereby declared vacant.
Stephen Allen Womak, US Republican Lawmaker
I mean, it’s a sign, I think, if history is any guide at all to this; it’s a sign of a party in disintegration. I mean, that’s what’s happening, and it’s melting down and it’s pretty clear.
That’s the older history. The more recent history, I think, is that what we’re seeing today is the latest installment in the, you know, ever, ever continuing coup d’etat by Donald Trump. I mean, that’s what we’re seeing.
George Henry Davis, History Professor, Princeton University
The vote to oust McCarthy marks a major escalation in tensions for a House GOP that has been mired in infighting and comes just days after McCarthy successfully engineered a last minute bipartisan effort to avert a government shutdown.
I think probably the next step would be a shutdown, which is really what they’re probably aiming for.
They wanted to get McCarthy out of there, in part because he stood in the way of that … bunch of reasons, but that’s part of it.
And it’s the politics of chaos.
George Henry Davis, History Professor, Princeton University
The effort to oust the speaker was led by GOP Republican, Matt Gaetz. There is also a significant amount of distrust and anger from House Democrats towards McCarthy over his actions as Speaker and the House GOP agenda.
The rebellious lawmakers accused McCarthy of a flip flop, saying he had promised an end to hastily prepared stopgap legislation, hammered out with the support of the opposition, and a return to budgeting through the committee process.
Some Republican leaders condemn McCarthy’s removal, with former Vice President and current presidential candidate, Mike Pence, suggesting it would undermine the GOP in the eyes of voters.
There is no clear successor to oversee the House Republican majority. Congress has around 40 days to agree on a deal to avoid another potential government shutdown.
But there is a certain nihilistic quality to what they’re doing. However, there’s also you know, genius in the madness, because the madness is about creating as much chaos as possible.
And then, you know, then the Trump people will step in.
George Henry Davis, History Professor, Princeton University
Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster could signal a shift in the US House of Representatives on aid to Ukraine, with some of his possible successors, staunchly opposed to assisting Kyiv.
Republican opponents of the aid view it as excessive spending and a misplaced US policy priority.
I rise to put the leadership of the House, the Senate, and, the President of the United States, on notice. I will not consent to any expedited passage of any spending bill that provides any more American aid to Ukraine.
It’s as if no one has noticed that we have no extra money to send to Ukraine. Our deficit this year will exceed $1.5 trillion.
Borrowing money from China to send it to Ukraine makes no sense. It’s not as if we have some sort of rainy day fund sitting around, trillions of dollars in a pot of money we’re just going to send that to Ukraine. We’re going to borrow it.
When we borrow it and create new money to pay for that borrowing, we create the inflation that is plaguing our economy.
Senator Rand Paul
McCarthy earlier this week, denied accusations by Gaetz that he had cut a secret deal with Biden to allow the House to vote on aid for Ukraine. McCarthy had said at the time that he wanted more information from the Biden administration.
President Joe Biden asked Congress in July to approve another $24 billion related to Ukraine. Although the compromise struck in Congress dropped new funding for Ukraine amid opposition by hard-line Republicans.
It remains unclear what might happen next. Biden and his Democratic Party said the US has a duty to help Ukraine.
It is critically important for the United States, and our allies, that we keep our commitment. We can support Ukraine in the next tranche and … there is another means by which we may be able to find funding for that, but I’m not going to get into that now.
US President, Joe Biden
However, the issue has become so politicized in Washington that the fate of vital military aid is now in jeopardy.
The US has approved four rounds of aid to Ukraine, totaling about $113 billion, with some of that money going towards replenishment of US military equipment that was sent to the frontlines
Since the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the American taxpayers provided Ukraine with $113 billion, over the 583 days of war between February 24th 2022 and the end of the month, that average is $6.8 billion per month or $223 million per day.
There’s [sic] a lot of things that we need to fix in our country before we borrow money to try to perpetuate a war in another country.
Senator Rand Paul
There is widespread concern over corruption in Ukraine. The US is increasingly urging Ukraine to do more to combat corruption. This is while Ukraine considers the direct budgetary support it receives from the US and other foreign allies to be vital to keeping its economy afloat.
