The fight between Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida has ratcheted up another notch, with the firebrand MAGA representative deciding to try and give Speaker McCarthy the boot over the latest budget fight. Rep. Gaetz is doing so by bringing a motion to vacate the Speaker’s chair.
Rep. Gaetz made his move on Monday night, taking to the floor of the House of Representatives to do what he reserved the right to do in January, when McCarthy was elected Speaker of the House over the objections of most of the MAGA contingent.
Announcing his motion, Rep. Gaetz said, “Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause two A1 of Rule nine, I rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges of House. Declaring the office Speaker of the House of Representatives to be vacant. Resolved that the office of Speaker of the House Representatives is hereby declared to be vacant.”
Speaker McCarthy responded by posting “Bring it on” on X (formerly Twitter), to which Rep. Gaetz responded by saying “Just did,” trolling him and rubbing it in that McCarthy now has to defend his so recently won leadership position.
Just did. https://t.co/zdQk3GblbV
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) October 2, 2023
According to precedent from the House of Representatives, a resolution to remove the Speaker of the House is a privileged motion, which means that it has priority over the other issues that the House is discussing or considering.
To force such a vote, a member of the body must do as Rep. Gaetz did and appear on the House floor to announce their intent to offer the resolution which would remove the Speaker. The Speaker then has to, after such a floor speech, put the resolution on the legislative schedule within just two legislative days, setting up a near-immediate fight.
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Despite the precedence it is granted and the fast-track path it is placed on, it can still be stopped by Congressional maneuvering. CNN, giving an example of how that can happen, noted, “For example, when the resolution is called up on the floor, a motion to table – or kill – the resolution could be offered and would be voted on first. That vote would also only require a simple majority to succeed – and if it did succeed then there would not be a vote directly on the resolution to remove the speaker because the resolution would instead be tabled.“
So, the next battle before the resolution is considered, if it is considered, will likely be back-room wheeling and dealing to see whether the McCarthy side or Gaetz side can spin up more support to either stop the resolution from being quashed by a motion to table or quash it with that maneuver or others.
Which side can win over more support is unclear, but Speaker McCarthy could and presumably will use his leadership position to make promises to the Democrats in exchange for their backing him in this battle, which could move the House to the left.