Kevin McCarthy’s ally Patrick McHenry took over as House Speaker on an interim basis Tuesday after McCarthy became the first speaker in U.S. history to be removed from office.
When he took office in January, the embattled McCarthy gave the secretary of the House of Representatives a secret list of members who could temporarily take over if the office became vacant.
It turned out that McHenry, a nine-term Republican from North Carolina, was the first name on McCarthy’s list.
He called the House into session immediately after the vote, saying he would remain in office “until the election of the new speaker.”
The time frame is not specified.
“In the chairman’s opinion, it would be advisable to take a break before the election of the speaker so that the responsible group and its conferences can meet and discuss the way forward.”
“Accordingly, pursuant to clause 12A of Rule 1, the Chairperson declares that the House of Representatives shall recess, subject to the call by the Chairperson.”
Then he slammed the gavel on the desk theatrically and with visible anger.
Patrick McHenry, the new interim speaker of the House of Representatives, took office on Tuesday following the ouster of Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday became the first House speaker in history to be ousted by his own party
McCarthy’s ouster came at the behest of Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican and die-hard MAGA supporter who believed that McCarthy had given too much ground to Democrats in the budget debate.
The budget was agreed on Saturday evening, avoiding a last-minute government shutdown.
Gaetz found support within his own, deeply divided party.
The motion to get rid of McCarthy, also known as vacating the speaker’s chair, passed by a vote of 216 to 210, with eight Republicans joining Democrats.
McHenry currently chairs the House Financial Services Committee.
He will be tasked with leading the fractious House of Representatives over the next few days, but his role is one of the most powerful positions in Congress.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives is also second in line to succession to the presidency, after the Vice President.
McCarthy, whose election in January was full of drama, could attempt a comeback.
However, it is unclear whether he would receive the support for this.
McCarthy was seen shaking hands and hugging his supporters after the bitter defeat in the House of Representatives.
Nancy Mace of South Carolina stunned her Republican colleagues by voting to remove McCarthy from leadership.
The outspoken congresswoman said her vote was about “trust.”
“It’s not ideological.” “It’s about having a leader in our country who tells the truth and can be trusted,” she told .
“I’m looking for a speaker who tells the truth.”
But in January, she tweeted that Gaetz was a “fraud” for his McCarthy opposition.
Kevin McCarthy was spectacularly ousted as House speaker in a historic vote that was sparked by a turbulent civil war within the Republican Party
On the House floor, Gaetz said: “Chaos is Speaker McCarthy.” Chaos is someone we cannot trust with his word.
“One thing that the White House, House Democrats and many of us on the conservative side of the Republican caucus would argue is that we have something in common – Kevin McCarthy has said something to all of us at some point, which he has done .” It’s not really mean and never intended to live up to it.
“I don’t think voting against Kevin McCarthy spells chaos. I think $33 trillion in debt is chaos. “I think a $2.2 trillion annual deficit spells chaos.”
He added: “Let’s move on, let’s vacate the chair, let’s get a better speaker.”
It came after a rebellion led by his nemesis, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, and a small group of hard-line Republicans who viewed McCarthy as a weak conservative
Steve Scalise was one of the Republicans who supported McCarthy
McCarthy’s supporters called him a “happy warrior” with “true American courage”
Gaetz and his allies criticized McCarthy for relying on Democratic votes to pass temporary funding that prevented a partial government shutdown last week.
They also said he hadn’t pushed hard enough to cut spending and was too willing to send money to Ukraine.
The anti-McCarthy Republicans have not agreed on an alternative they would like to propose as a speaker.
Gaetz has pointed out that the speaker doesn’t even have to be a member of the House of Representatives.
The Florida Republican said he “absolutely doesn’t” want the top job – and mentioned a number of names – including members of McCarthy’s own leadership team such as Steve Scalise and Tom Emmer.
He even suggested that he would “maybe call for Lee Zeldin from New York.”