The U.S. House of Representatives is set to hold a vote on a motion to vacate the House speaker position, after a move last night by Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to force a vote on the issue.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said the House will take up the matter during its first round of voting this afternoon, beginning at 1:30 p.m. EST.
With a narrow Republican majority in the House, even a few Republican votes against McCarthy would mean he will lose his position as speaker. Democrats, for their part, have said they will not support him, meaning McCarthy is likely to be ousted if he loses even five Republican votes.
Who will take his position is up for debate. Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) has been mentioned, as has Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), though Scalise is currently battling cancer.
Even many opponents of McCarthy among his own party admit that replacing him would not be an easy task. As noted by Freedom Caucus member Representative Morgan Griffith (R-Va.),
The problem is — and this is the same problem we saw with the 15 ballots at the beginning of the year — it is my belief that there is nobody at this point in time that has the majority votes in order to become speaker other than Kevin McCarthy. If you know somebody, name them. I don’t know somebody that has that kind of a following or that kind of a commitment from a vast majority from the members of the Republican conference.
Whatever happens regarding McCarthy and the speakership, the situation certainly reveals the level of discontent with the Washington status quo. The latest move to oust McCarthy is tied to his compromise with Democrats to get a temporary funding extension and stave off a government shutdown.
