National
For the first time in U.S. history, a House Speaker has been removed from office.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-21) was removed from his post as Speaker Tuesday night in a tight vote that consisted of all Democratic members of the House joined by eight Republicans.
McCarthy was elected Speaker in January after fifteen contentious rounds of voting, the first time since 1923 that a Speaker was elected through multiple rounds of voting, and the first time since the Civil War a Speaker vote took over ten attempts.
The only other motion to vacate the Speakership came in 1910, when Speaker Joseph G. Cannon (R-IL) easily survived the effort.
208 Democrats voted to remove McCarthy from the Speakership, while 4 Democrats did not vote. Former Speaker and long-standing Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) did not vote.
210 Republicans voted to keep McCarthy in office, while eight sided with Democrats. Those Republicans are Matt Gaetz of Florida, who offered the motion to vacate the speaker’s office, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ken Buck of Colorado, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Eli Crane of Arizona, Bob Good of Virginia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, and Matt Rosendale of Montana.
Three Republicans did not vote.
Biggs, Crane, Gaetz, and Good were four of the near-twenty Republican members of the House who were holdouts against McCarthy, insisting on sets of rules and procedures, including a single-member vote of no confidence in the sitting Speaker.
The final tally resulted in a 216-210 vote to oust McCarthy, with seven members not voting.
The motion to vacate the Speaker’s office came after Republicans were unhappy with the latest stopgap spending bill passed to avert a government shutdown for forty-five days. Many Republicans, including Gaetz, say that McCarthy’s cooperation with the Democrats led to more money being sent to Ukraine, something to which the holdout Republicans objected earlier in January. Less spending on Ukraine and controlled, line-item spending overall, rather than pork-barrel omnibus bills, were two conditions of their agreement to elect McCarthy as Speaker in January.
Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) was compelled to remove McCarthy from office after McCarthy made a “condescending” remark about Burchett’s religious beliefs during a phone call. McCarthy has said he had no intention of offending Burchett.
Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-SC-01), known for her moderate brand of politics, cited her reasoning to remove McCarthy was due to “unfulfilled promises” made by the GOP regarding party strategy on hot-button issues, such as gun violence and abortion.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-08) and members of the Democratic coalition said they voted against McCarthy after he blamed Democrats for a near-shutdown, after the party helped him and the Republicans pass the budget.
McCarthy’s allies said they would nominate him in a floor vote to return to the Speakership; McCarthy said he has no intentions of running again.
In his wake, Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) was appointed Speaker pro tempore to preside over Congress until a formal Speaker vote is held. A Speaker must appoint a pro tempore as a temporary replacement as per post-September 11 rules. Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA-01) and Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH-04).
Congressman Nick LaLota (R-NY-01) issued a statement after the vote:
“With Democrats controlling the White House and Senate, a common sense conservative Speaker led a slim majority to fund the government, deliver strong border and energy bills, ad lift the debt ceiling while exacting $1.7 trillion in cuts from a Democrat President and Senate Majority Leader who said they wouldn’t cut a penny. It’s no surprise Democrats were united in voting him out. But that five percent of House Republicans did so, without a plan other than chaos, is disappointing and damaging to our republic.”
Finally, LaLota called out three members of Congress, Matt Rosendale (R-MT), Nancy Mace (R-SC), and Bob Good (R-VA) in a Tweet on October 3, the day of the vote:
“A Republican-led MTV against @SpeakerMcCarthy will lead to chaos— that’s my opinion and that of one of the Speaker’s sharpest Republican critics. Let’s avoid that chaos and get back to our work on appropriations & the border.”
Congressman Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) of New York’s Second Congressional District wrote in a statement:
“The Chaos Caucus joined with the Progressives to undermine the Republican majority and hand the reins of the House to the Democrats. It’s disgraceful, it’s an embarrassment, and it’s damaging to our party and institution as a whole. Because of these self-promoting members, we will not be able to secure our border, pass appropriations bills that cut spending, reduce inflation, or roll back other failed policies implemented under Democrat rule.”
The question now turns not only to who will succeed McCarthy as Speaker, but how the majority of the Republican caucus will approach the issue. With Congress divided by such a tenuous margin, it’s possible that the majority of the Republican caucus could strike a deal with Democrats to elect a compromise candidate, one that could undermine conservative efforts or play to the more “establishment politics” of both parties.
Furthermore, since the Speaker represents the entire body and the party of the officeholder is not required to be of the majority party, a scenario can arise in which Democrats could take control of the Speakership. Democrats were completely unified in electing a minority leader in January, while Republicans were splintered over McCarthy and other factional leaders.
Additionally, the office of Speaker is not required to be filled by a sitting member of the U.S. House. This was evident in January when Donald Trump and Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) were nominated for the position.
Finally, the vacation of the Speaker post can complicate efforts to avoid an additional government shutdown.
State
As the migrant crisis continues to brew in New York, Governor Kathy Hochul (D) has a separate priority: marijuana.
As of Wednesday, Governor Hochul announced a two-month period for license applications available for people and businesses to grow and sell cannabis.
Additionally, the governor mentioned a further crackdown on illegal sales, announcing a seizure of 8,500 pounds of marijuana, translating to roughly $42 million in value.
“My administration is laser-focused on shutting down illegal storefronts, protecting the health and safety of children, and helping small businesses thrive,” said Hochul.
The expansion comes after months of blockades in court, a major setback to the recreational marijuana industry in New York.
According to AMNYI, the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and the New York State Cannabis Control Board (CCB) will be accepting the applications and issuing licenses for “cultivators, processors, distributors, microbusinesses, and retail dispensaries in early 2024. During the application window, those who are currently operational Adult-Use Conditional Cultivators and Conditional Processors will also be able to apply to transition to full, non-conditional licenses.”
Local
Preempting the drama of the Speaker vote was that of the looming government shutdown. The U.S. House worked cooperatively to pass a stopgap budget to keep the government funded for forty-five days.
Congressman Nick LaLota (R-NY-01), who voted in favor of the bill, said in a statement:
“Congress has an important duty to keep the government open, our military paid, and important programs and agencies including the FAA, community health centers, and National Flood Insurance Program authorized. Just as we demonstrated by raising the debt ceiling earlier this year simultaneously with cutting spending, our country works better when leaders put aside differences for the benefit of the American people. That said, we are not out of the woods yet. We must pass the remaining appropriations bills as soon as possible to fund the government while reducing spending, strengthen our southwest border, and avoid doing this all over again in 46 days.”
In response to the possible shutdown, Congressman Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) co-sponsored the No Work, No Pay Act, which would fine members of Congress an amount equivalent to one day’s pay for each day of a government shutdown.
“Government shutdowns have real-world consequences for Americans, from delayed distribution of federal benefits to the furlough of hundreds of thousands of federal employees in communities across the country,” said Garbarino. “Congress has a duty to fund the government and, if it is unable to do that by the deadline, Members of Congress should face those consequences themselves. I’m co-leading this bill because I don’t believe Members should be paid for not doing the job the American people sent us to Washington to do.”
