Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has now signaled his willingness to negotiate a change to the procedural instrument he used to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as House speaker.
On Thursday, the Florida Republican asked colleagues to take into account changes suggested by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) in exchange for modifying the procedures to make it more difficult to obtain a vote of no confidence in the chamber’s speaker.
Gaetz posted a post highlighting Khanna’s announcement of an anti-corruption strategy, in particular his calls for term limits for members of Congress, more regulations on congressional stock trading, and a reduction in the amount of money that lobbyists and PACs are allowed to raise.
Ok. Let’s negotiate.
My GOP colleagues want to raise the threshold on the motion to vacate.
This is a question for all of them.
If we enact the reforms @RepRoKhanna lays out here….
How high would you like the MTV threshold to be?
Because I’ll basically give you whatever… https://t.co/uaFhoNi0Is
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) October 5, 2023
As Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) started her second term as speaker, lawmakers raised the bar to make it necessary for a majority of either party to bring a motion to vacate to the House floor in 2019.
McCarthy attempted to win the speaker’s gavel across 15 votes in January, but the House rules package approved for this session of Congress restored the power of a single member to initiate the process as a concession to GOP holdouts, a group that included Gaetz.
Gaetz submitted a “motion to vacate the chair” this week after the GOP-controlled House passed a short-term spending package to prevent a government shutdown, citing his dissatisfaction with McCarthy’s leadership.
McCarthy was defeated 216-210 by Gaetz and seven other Republicans who sided with Democrats. McCarthy then said he would not compete for re-election.
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