(R-CA) Kevin McCarthy and (R-NC) Patrick McHenry.Photo:getty (2)
getty (2)
Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina was appointed temporary Speaker Pro Tempore afterKevin McCarthybecame the first Speaker of the House to be stripped of his role during a legislative term in U.S. history.
The unprecedented motion to remove him from the nation’s third-highest post followed Tuesday’srecall vote, in which the House voted 216-210to strip McCarthy ofhis leadership role.
After the recall vote, the House Clerk announced McHenry was the new temporary speaker, reportsPoliticoandABC News. McCarthy, 58, picked McHenry, 47, for the role in January, reports Politico. The North Carolina Republican’s role was not announced at the time.
McCarthy later told Republicans he would not run for speaker again, reportsThe New York Times.
McHenry was elected to Congress in 2004 at the age of 29 and has served 10 terms. The Gastonia, North Carolina native currently resides in Denver, North Carolina, and represents the state’s 10th District, which includes Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, and Rutherford Counties.
McHenry is known to be a longtime supporter of McCarthy, writing on X before the California Republican’s ousting, “@SpeakerMcCarthy has delivered consistent, conservative leadership. We need his steady hand to make good on our commitment to America."
Ahead of the historic recall, far-right Florida Rep.Matt Gaetzfiled a long-shot “motion to vacate” the night before.
The decision was reached after McCarthy announced that he would not make a deal with Democrats in order to earn their backing, which reportedly ledHouse Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffriestodirect the Democratic caucusto vote for new leadership.
The vote took place amid efforts to remove McCarthy from the speaker position, which dated back to before he was evenelected in January. It took15 rounds of contentious votingfor McCarthy to win the role. At the time, McCarthy made major concessions to far-right members, including enacting a rule that would allow any one Republican to trigger a recall vote if they were dissatisfied with him, which ultimately became the decision that led to his removal.
Since January, the House Republicans have struggled to stay in sync. Under McCarthy’s leadership, theright-wing Freedom Caucusroutinely opposed the party’s agenda, including consistent opposition to budget matters.
“The one thing I agree with my Democrat colleagues on is that for the last eight months, this House has been poorly led and we own that and we have to do something about it,” Gaetz said on the House floor last week. “And you know what? My Democrat colleagues will have an opportunity to do something about that, too. And we will see if they bail out our failed speaker.”
In addition to the Freedom Caucus’ dissatisfaction with the speaker, House Democrats had expressed their own frustrations with McCarthy before the recall vote — including theimpeachment inquiryinto PresidentJoe Bidenduring urgent government shutdown negotiations (and without substantial evidence).
Additionally, on Sunday the now-former speaker said onFace the Nation, that the Democrats were to blame for the potential government shutdown, although more Democrats voted to avert the shutdown than Republicans.
McCarthy’s ousting marks the first time in the nation’s history that a House speaker has been removed, and the first time in 113 years that the House has formally sought to oust its speaker.
While McHenry serves in the interim, there is still not a clear successor in place for McCarthy.
source: people.com
