Kevin McCarthy, a republican, has been voted out as speaker of the US house of representatives, becoming the first in the nation’s history to be so removed.
A simple majority of 216 to 210 ensured McCarthy surrendered the gavel, as questions mounted over his leadership.
Eight republicans teamed up with democrats to remove him from the position.
“The office of the speaker is hereby declared vacant,” the presiding officer bellowed, as silence engulfed the house.
Afterwards, McCarthy told lawmakers he would not run for speakership again, leaving the gavel up for grabs.
“I may have lost this vote today, but as I walk out of this chamber, I feel fortunate to have served,” McCarthy said at a press conference at the Capitol.
Patrick McHenry would temporarily serve in the role until a new speaker is elected.
Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, said President Joe Biden “hopes the house will quickly elect a speaker. The president looks forward to working with them”.
Matt Gaetz, the far right Florida congressman who launched the moves to remove McCarthy, said ahead of the vote that “Speaker McCarthy has failed to take a stand where it matters. So if he won’t, I will”.
McCarthy got off to a rocky start as speaker in January, after democrats ceded control of the house to the republicans in the mid-term elections.
He secured the speakership after heated exchanges — which almost saw fellow republicans come to blows — and 15 rounds of voting. He had been opposed by a handful of members of his own party.
McCarthy’s leadership was recently questioned within the GOP (as the republican party is also known) after he reached a deal with democrats to avoid a government shutdown over the weekend.
The deal meant that republicans could not push through a bill that would have imposed dramatic cuts of as much as 30 percent on a number of Biden’s social programmes.
On Monday, Gaetz commenced moves to remove McCarthy as speaker, alleging that the Californian had betrayed the GOP by working on a deal with democrats to avoid a shutdown of government.
McCarthy responded to Gaetz’s plot with “bring it on”. Hours later, he became the first US speaker to be removed from the role through a congressional vote.
Source: Top Stories
