Jacob Francy, '26
On October 3rd, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 216-210 to remove Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy after only 10 months on the job. This is the first time in America’s 247-year history that a Speaker has been vacated by the House. Only a handful of other times, there have been votes to vacate, but a majority has never voted to remove.
Kevin McCarthy, after 15 rounds of votes, became the 55th Speaker of the U.S. House, which presides over the House and is third in line to the Presidency. In order to get enough votes to become Speaker, McCarthy made many side deals with MAGA-right Republicans to earn their vote. Every non-extreme Republican, which is the vast majority, voted for McCarthy without hesitation. Members like Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and our very own Andy Ogles (R-TN) upheld the process until they got their compensation. A part of that compensation was to create the rule that any one member of Congress could bring up a vote of vacating the Speakership without approval of the Speaker.
Because of this, McCarthy spent the past 10 months running back and forth between party lines to please the Moderate Republicans, whom he is aligned with. The MAGA-right Republicans, who has had full control over his job, essentially forced him to introduce legislation to impeach President Biden which had no true evidence. All at the same time, he also was busy compromising with the Democrats in the Senate and executive branch in order to actually pass legislation. McCarthy appealed to everyone and still was relieved of his duties.
In late September, the government was on the verge of another shutdown. The vast majority of the country and Congress did not want to impose this. But, the handful of members in the “Freedom Caucus”, refused to support any legislation that put more funding in the government which meant they supported a government shutdown. Knowing the country is better off with an actual functioning government, McCarthy drafted a bill that passed the House and then was given multiple amendments in the Democratic-majority Senate, which was then changed again in the House before it officially passed and was sent to the White House to be signed by President Biden. The bill kept the government open for 45 more days, delaying the possible shutdown until November. Rep. Matt Gaetz from Florida’s first district saw this and took advantage of the spotlight. He introduced a motion to vacate Kevin McCarthy as Speaker after he literally kept the government functioning. The next day, all Democrats and eight MAGA-right Republicans voted in a 6-vote majority to relieve McCarthy of his duties.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) was selected by McCarthy to be his replacement prior to the motion to vacate; so now McHenry is acting Speaker, or Speaker Pro Tempore.
It’s scary to watch the United States Congress fall down into little high school-level fights when they are supposed to be governing on behalf of us. The government could shut down in a month, but here they are wasting time. Quit with the petty fights, and start governing.