It is pitiful when you get outsmarted by a man who can’t even find his way off the stage or can’t even remember that he is the president. But Speaker McCarthy pulled it off when he supported an open debt limit until 2025. You may well remember that during I was dead set against the election of Kevin McCarthy because I thought in a confrontation with the Democrats, he would fold like a cheap road map. It took 15 votes before he was elected.
To finally get elected, McCarthy agreed to change and that could end up being his downfall. One of the concessions was that it takes only one House member to trigger a vote for a “motion to vacate the chair.” It seems likely that the bill will be passed by both Houses of Congress by the June fifth deadline.
Under the newly adopted rule, any single member of the House could “offer a privileged resolution declaring the Office of Speaker vacant.” The term “privileged” here refers to a matter that has precedence over regular House business, meaning it is more urgent and must be brought to the House floor for a vote.
This is not confined to Republican members; Democrats could make the motion to vacate as well.
Procedural votes could be offered to slow down the motion, but when it does come to the floor, it would need only a simple majority of the House — or 218 members currently — to pass.
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELIronically, it now takes just one discontented lawmaker from either party to invoke the procedural maneuver — known as the “motion to vacate the chair” — used to remove the speaker. Restoring the single-vote motion to vacate is one of the rules to which McCarthy agreed in order to win the speakership.
Unfortunately for McCarthy, it’s not just Bishop.
According to Politico, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) raised the issue on a private call with House Freedom Caucus members on Tuesday. Buck reportedly argued that McCarthy had violated his promises to the caucus. Moreover, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) accused McCarthy of a “betrayal of the power sharing arrangement that we put in place.”
How did McCarthy respond?
The speaker dismissed the criticism.
“I’m not sure what, in the bill, people are concerned about,” he said. “I think it is an easy vote for Republicans to vote for it.”
There is little doubt the agreement, known as the Fiscal Responsibility Act, will be passed in the House and Senate before the June 5 deadline. There will be, however, holdouts on both sides of the aisle.
Let’s hope for two things. One, that the vote passes, and two that we get better choices for speaker this time. Maybe Jim Jorden or a main member of the Freedom Caucus.
