North Carolina Rep Patrick McHenry takes over as pro-tempore speaker
From TN Ashok
Washington, Oct 04: Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was today ousted from his chair in a historic first time in the United States Congress as eight dissidents from the GOP joined the democrats to vote out McCarthy 218 to 208 for his alleged back stabbing in joining democrats to avert a government shutdown last weekend on motion moved by Florida Rep Mike Gaetz.
Patrick McHenry of North Carolina takes over as pro-tempore speaker of the House of Congress. McHenry is the chair of the financial services committee of the house.
The Hardliners vs Moderates infighting within the GOP climaxed with the former having its way to axe the speaker for his alleged betrayal in joining hands with democrats in the house to avert government shutdown on a motion brought by Florida Republican Mike Gaetz, UK’s Guardian reported.
As per house rules, McCarthy was required to draft a list of names for filling in his position if rendered vacant by any circumstance under rule one clause 8 of the house regulations. And that person was none other than North Carolina’s Patrick McHenry who has taken over as House speaker pro tempore for the time being, US media reports said.
The US House of Representatives voted with 210 democrats voting and eight hardliner republicans to join to defeat McCarthy’s 208 supporters making McCarthy the first speaker of the House in US history to be removed from the job. House Majority leader Steve Scalise of Lousiana is now tipped to be the next speaker of the house.
McCarthy brought his own ruin when he set his ouster in motion last weekend when he enlisted with Democrats in an effort to fund the government and avoid a shutdown prompting the hard-right congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida to introduce a motion on Monday night to oust him, media reports said. .
The US media listed five key takeaways from McCarthys ouster from the speakership of the house.
First, McCarthy won the speakership of the house nine months ago in a chaotic 15 ballot election in January and it was all but certain that another multiple-vote election would ensure to keep him in office, CNN said.
Steve Scalise of Louisana is currently fancied as the next speaker of the house when the house gets to vote for a new chair. He is currently the No 2 House Republican, being mentioned as McCarthy’s potential successor. Gaetz notably called out the longtime rival of McCarthy on Monday in a chat with reporters. “I am not going to pass over Steve Scalise just because he has blood cancer,” Gaetz said.
Scalise, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy for treatment of leukaemia, had announced his diagnosis in August, calling the illness “very treatable” and noting that it had been detected early.
Long time critic of McCarthy after his elevation to the speaker’s post, Florida’s Gaetz, called the disgraced politician as “a creature of the swamp”. “He has risen to power by collecting special interest money and redistributing that money in exchange for favors,” Gaetz said on Tuesday during an interview on CNN. “We are breaking the fever and we should elect a speaker who is better.”
Gaetz doubled down on his vote of confidence for Scalise, saying : “I think the world of Steve Scalise. I think he would make a phenomenal speaker.”
The 2nd key takeaway from McCarthy’s ouster is that Gaetz used his muscle to muster a vote to “boot McCarthy out of the speaker’s post” and he is now using it as a means to fundraise for himself, he is expected to make more trouble for the House in the coming weeks, reports said.
The 3rd key takeaway from the dramatic development is that the GOP is in full fledged chaos. The fact that eight Republicans voted in favor of removing McCarthy illuminates the burgeoning fissures amid the GOP. Those eight included representatives Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ken Buck of Colorado, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Eli Crane of Arizona, Bob Good of Virginia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Matt Rosendale of Montana, and Gaetz.
The former vice-president Mike Pence told a meeting at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, :“Chaos is never America’s strength and it’s never a friend of American families that are struggling. I’m deeply disappointed that a handful of Republicans have partnered with Democrats to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House.” House Rules committee chairman Tom Cole told CNN things are now unclear.
“Nobody knows what’s going to happen next, including all the people that voted to vacate … they have no plan. They have no alternative at this point. So it’s just simply a vote for chaos,” Cole said.
The 4th takeaway from the outer is that it’s an apocalyptic moment for the Congress as no one knows what is going to happen next. Minutes before the ouster, Tom McClintock of California declared that “if this motion carries, the House will be paralyzed”. “We can expect week after week of fruitless ballots while no other business can be conducted, CNN said.
The 5th takeaway is that Democrats will rejoice in Republican dysfunction and the public will rightly be repulsed. McClintock went on to predict that Democrats would then “enlist a rump caucus of Republicans to join a coalition to end the impasse. This House will shift dramatically to the left and will effectively end the Republican House majority that the voters elected in 2022, media reports quoted McClintock as saying.
In turn , this will only neutralize the only counterweight in our elected government to the woke left control of the Senate and the White House at a time when their … policies are destroying our economy and have opened our borders to invasion.”
“There are turning points in history whose significance is only realized by the events that they unleash. This is one of those times. We are at the precipice. There are only minutes left to come to our senses and realize the grave danger our country is in at this moment. Dear God, grant us the wisdom to see it and to save our country from it.” He said.