Baskadia

Gaetz Moves to Oust Him for Working With Democrats

A day after the Republican speaker turned to Democrats for help passing a stopgap spending bill to avert a shutdown, the far-right congressman promised to try to remove him from his post.

Representative Matt Gaetz walking away from a group of reporters.

Representative Matt Gaetz accused Speaker Kevin McCarthy of lying to his G.O.P. members during spending negotiations.Credit...Kent Nishimura for The New York Times

Karoun Demirjian

By Karoun Demirjian

Reporting from Washington

Oct. 1, 2023

Updated 6:42 p.m. ET

Kevin McCarthy is facing the most dire threat yet to his speakership after teaming up with Democrats to avert a government shutdown, leading his most outspoken Republican critic, Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, to declare that he would follow through on threats to try to remove Mr. McCarthy from his post.

Mr. Gaetz’s announcement on Sunday came a day after Mr. McCarthy, in a stunning reversal, dropped his party’s demands for border security measures and budget cuts and turned to Democrats to help him steer a 45-day stopgap spending bill through the House. The backlash was almost immediate, as Republican hard-liners left the Capitol on Saturday complaining that Mr. McCarthy had sold them out, and questioning whether he deserved to keep his job.

“I think we need to rip off the Band-Aid,” Mr. Gaetz said during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, promising in the next few days to bring up a measure called a “motion to vacate,” which prompts a snap vote on whether to keep the speaker in his post. “I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy.”

Mr. Gaetz’s move is the culmination of a monthslong power struggle between Mr. McCarthy and far-right members of his party, who sought to deprive him of the speaker’s gavel in January and shut down the House floor this spring to protest a bipartisan deal Mr. McCarthy struck with President Biden to raise the debt ceiling.