The Blubber

This is a developing story, but Kevin McCarthy has been removed as House Speaker, the shortest serving Speaker since 1839.

The U.S. House of Representatives is conducting a historic vote on whether to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his position after he was unable to quell a rebellion within his Republican Party's right-wing faction.

Representative Matt Gaetz initiated the challenge by introducing a resolution to declare the speakership vacant, which necessitated the House to address Mr. McCarthy's fate. An earlier effort by Representative Tom Cole to table the measure, effectively ending it, fell short by several votes.

In a vote of 218-208, Democrats and 11 Republican hard-liners rejected Mr. McCarthy's attempt to thwart the motion's progress, paving the way for a vote on his removal. This marks only the second time in modern House history that such a vote has occurred, and if successful, Mr. McCarthy would be the first speaker involuntarily removed from office.

The pre-vote atmosphere witnessed an unusual Republican-on-Republican debate on the House floor as hard-right rebels criticized their own speaker and clashed verbally with McCarthy's defenders, while Democrats remained silent.

Critics of Mr. McCarthy chastised him for perceived failures to negotiate deeper spending cuts with the Biden administration and for a perceived lack of leadership.

The vote to oust the speaker took place through a roll-call method, where lawmakers indicated their positions on the resolution to remove the speaker in alphabetical order, unlike the typical electronic voting process.

Since Mr. McCarthy is removed, there is no clear successor. The absence of a speaker would effectively paralyze the House until a replacement is chosen, and an interim speaker, selected from a list prepared by Mr. McCarthy at the start of the year, would primarily oversee the speaker election.

The House and Senate must pass appropriations bills to fund the federal government before mid-November to avoid a shutdown. Far-right Republicans have criticized Mr. McCarthy for relying on Democratic support to pass a temporary spending measure to keep the government operational.

Mr. McCarthy expressed no regrets about his actions in keeping the government open, citing the need for continuity and avoiding political gridlock. He reiterated that removing a speaker with significant support in their conference could harm Congress's ability to function effectively. During a closed-door meeting, Mr. McCarthy received numerous standing ovations from fellow Republicans.

The outcome of this historic vote could significantly impact the balance of power and leadership in the House of Representatives.