WASHINGTON: Top US House Republican Kevin McCarthy could face an untimely end to his role as speaker if party hardliners oust him, for averting a costly government shutdown on Saturday with a stopgap bill that drew more support from Democrats than Republicans.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted 335-91 to adopt a 45-day stopgap measure hours before funding for federal agencies was set to expire. The Democratic-led Senate later approved the same bill with bipartisan support and sent it to President Joe Biden to sign into law.
But soon after the House action, hardline Republican conservatives began targeting McCarthy’s role as speaker, claiming he had scored a victory for the “Uniparty” of Washington.
“Should he remain Speaker of the House?” Republican representative Andy Biggs, a leading hardliner, asked on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
McCarthy decided to bring a vote on a measure that could win Democratic support, knowing full well that it could jeopardise his job. One of his advisers told Reuters the speaker believed some hardliners would try to oust him under any circumstances.
The bipartisan measure succeeded a day after Biggs and 20 other hardliners blocked a Republican stopgap bill that contained sharp spending cuts and immigration and border restrictions, all of which hardliners favour.
The Republican bill’s failure ended that party’s hopes of moving a conservative measure and opened the door to the bipartisan measure that was backed by 209 House Democrats and 126 Republicans. Ninety Republicans opposed the stopgap.
Hardliners complained that the measure, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, left in place policies favoured by Democrats including Biden, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“Kevin McCarthy put a CR on the Floor that got 209 Democrat votes, since it kept in place the Biden-Pelosi-Schumer policies that are destroying the country and the spending levels that are bankrupting us,” hardline Representative Bob Good said on X.
Under an agreement McCarthy reached with hardliners to become speaker in January, just one lawmaker can set his potential ouster in motion by moving to “vacate the chair.”
Republican representative Matt Gaetz, who has openly threatened such action, made clear what it would take days before the Saturday vote.
“One thing I know. If Kevin McCarthy uses Democrat votes in the House of Representatives to advance Joe Biden’s spending priorities, he cannot remain as the Republican speaker,” the Florida Republican told the far-right channel Real America’s Voice on Wednesday.
It was not clear what action Democrats might take if a Republican moved to vacate the chair and the House voted on the measure.
Republican representative Brian Fitzpatrick, who co-chairs the bipartisan Problem Solvers’ Caucus, said bipartisanship itself would be the real issue in any vote on McCarthy’s future.
“The motion to vacate will come … and the question will be: are we going to punish or reward leaders who put two-party solutions on the floor? That is squarely the question,” Fitzpatrick told reporters.
Some Democrats have suggested they could support McCarthy if an ouster attempt occurred at a turbulent time. Others have suggested they could back a moderate Republican willing to share the gavel with them and allow power-sharing within House committees.
Others have shown no interest in helping any speaker candidate aside from House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“That’s his problem,” Democratic representative Jim McGovern said of McCarthy. “I vote for Hakeem Jeffries for speaker.”
“People have asked about making a deal with them. But I’m not a cheap date. I’m an expensive date.”