House Democrats let McCarthy sweat out ‘motion to vacate’ threat: ‘Did this to himself’

House Democrats won’t give Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) a sigh of relief as they continually dodge questions on whether they’d help bail him out of a motion to vacate amid threats from members of his own party.

Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-CA) said party leaders have not had discussions about whether they’d protect McCarthy from a possible ouster, but noted Democrats would begin to “chart a path forward” if such a motion is filed.

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“To become speaker, he lowered the threshold on the motion to vacate. It was one of the concessions that he made, so Speaker McCarthy did this to himself,” Aguilar said. “But right now, that is not our focus. Our focus is keeping the government open.”

The comments come after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) issued his strongest threat to McCarthy’s leadership yet, indicating on the House floor Tuesday evening that a motion to vacate would soon be filed.

“For the last eight months, this House has been poorly led, and we own that. We have to do something about it,” Gaetz said. “And you know what? My Democrat colleagues will have an opportunity to do something about that too, and we will see if they bail out our failed speaker.”

Gaetz has repeatedly threatened to strip McCarthy of his speakership, which only requires one member to call for a motion due to the agreement that secured McCarthy the leadership position at the beginning of this Congress.

The latest threat comes two weeks after Gaetz accused McCarthy of being “out of compliance” with the agreement that was brokered between House Republicans in exchange for their support during the speakership election in January, threatening to strip the GOP leader of his leadership position if McCarthy doesn’t honor the concessions he says were initially made earlier this year.

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McCarthy brushed off the latest round of threats, amounting them just to “personal differences” that he says don’t bother him.

“He never voted for me to start out with. I don’t assume he’s changing his position,” McCarthy said on Tuesday.