Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R – Cali.) worked to avert a government shutdown, making many in Washington happy as the government continued to run.
The happiness was not for everyone though.
Representative Matt Gaetz (R – Fla.) is one of McCarthy’s fiercest critics and will not look to oust McCarthy from his speaker role, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The Journal reported:
The California Republican pushed aside the GOP dissidents who have been dogging him for months, opting instead to pass legislation with Democratic support. He averted a government shutdown and bought Congress a few more weeks to negotiate its spending priorities. But it may cost him his job with rebels pressing for his ouster because he sided with the opposition.
“I do intend to file a motion to vacate against Speaker McCarthy this week,” Gaetz told CNN on Sunday morning. “I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy.”
It marks a new chapter for McCarthy, who has spent the first nine months of his tenure dancing with the dissenters. The next few weeks will show whether he has shaken up the balance of power sufficiently to sap their influence or has only served to rile them more.
Most recently, McCarthy had acquiesced to the demands of hard-line conservatives, figuring he had little choice given the razor-thin House GOP majority and the precariousness of his post. Any single lawmaker can trigger a vote on whether to oust the speaker, risking a rerun of the January election in which he emerged with the gavel only after 15 grueling ballots.
McCarthy’s move to keep the government open passed with the help of Democrats and left off any demands that the conservative wing of the party.
That wing is not going to attempt to oust McCarthy. He responded to the calls saying, “If somebody wants to make a motion against me, bring it. There has to be an adult in the room.”
