2023-10-03 21:07:32
Update
October 3, 2023
23:07
The Republican President of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, was dismissed this Tuesday by a motion of censure from his own camp. A historic first.
Such a vote has not taken place in over a century in the United States: Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, was ousted from his post on Tuesdayvictim of fratricidal quarrels within his party.
With 216 votes against 210, this is the first time in history that the House of Representatives has dismissed its president, under the leadership of a relatively small group of right-wing Republicans. No successor has yet been appointed.
The rebellion comes from an elected official from the American hard right, Matt Gaetz, Who tabled the motion to dismiss the “speaker”, despite being a member of his party. He mainly blames Kevin McCarthy to have negotiated with elected Democrats a provisional budget to finance the federal administration which many conservatives opposed.
He also accuses the Republican tenor of having concluded a “secret agreement” with President Joe Biden on a possible future envelope for Ukraine. However, the right wing of the Republican Party is strongly opposed to the release of additional funds for kyiv, believing that this money should instead be used to fight the migration crisis on the border between the United States and Mexico.
A historic first
Mr. McCarthy’s party controls the House a narrow majority of 221 votes to 212, meaning he can’t afford to lose more than five votes if Democrats unite in opposition. This is what happened on Tuesday, when eight Republicans – close to Donald Trump – voted with 208 Democrats to remove the Speaker of the House from office.
The impeachment of Kevin McCarthy is completely unprecedented: no speaker has ever been ousted from office in the history of the United States. To get out of this impasse, the fifty-year-old tried to use a series of procedural maneuvers, notably calling for adjournment of the examination of the impeachment motion. But these attempts all failed, increasing the pressure on the elected official from California.
Kevin McCarthy, 58, had already been elected by force in January, due to the very slim Republican majority. To access the perch, he had to make enormous concessions with around twenty Trumpists, including the possibility that any elected official has the power to call a vote to impeach him. A promise that comes back to haunt him on Tuesday.
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