House Republicans look to shift blame to Democrats for McCarthy removal

As the House sits at a standstill due to the absence of a permanent speaker, Republicans are seeking to shift some of the blame to their Democratic counterparts for voting to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from his leadership position.

McCarthy was removed in a 216-210 vote after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed a motion to vacate over allegations the former speaker crafted a “secret deal” with Democrats to advance Ukraine funding in exchange for support on a continuing resolution passed over the weekend to avert a government shutdown. All Democrats voted in favor of ousting McCarthy, prompting some Republicans to accuse the opposite party of throwing the lower chamber into a state of uncertainty despite the motion being introduced by a GOP member.

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“Democrats voted en masse following their extreme leader, Hakeem Jeffries, to throw the House into chaos on a motion to vacate,” the National Republican Congressional Committee said in an email moments after McCarthy was ousted.

McCarthy also sought to shift some of the blame over to Democrats in the hours after his ouster, calling the vote a “political decision” to remove him as speaker.

House Democrats held a heavy hand in the vote, with all members of the conference joining eight Republicans to remove McCarthy after saying they weren’t interested in helping GOP lawmakers sort out their intraparty tensions. Some Republicans claimed Gaetz’s move was evidence he “got schooled” by far-left Democrats who wanted to oust McCarthy.

“He was totally manipulated into doing this,” said Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA), a close ally of McCarthy. “I mean, I can’t believe he’s that stupid to be manipulated by [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)] and others to create this outcome.”

Some national Democrats have also weighed in, such as former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who criticized both McCarthy and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) for failing to reach across the aisle and avoid “a national embarrassment.”

“The fact is: The blame rests not just with the eight Republicans who voted to oust him, but also with both party’s leaders — McCarthy and Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — for failing to reach across the aisle to save the country from this mess,” Bloomberg wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Post. “Jeffries should’ve been willing to take the same risk, by rising above partisanship to save McCarthy’s job — if not for the good of the country, then for the good of the Democratic Party.”

In the hours leading up to the vote, McCarthy said he would not make a deal with Democrats to save his speakership. Even if he had, several Democrats said it wouldn’t have made much of a difference, citing a deep mistrust of the former speaker within their caucus.

“I think the other problem for all of us is that even if Kevin McCarthy were to say he would do something, there’s not a whole lot of trust that he’ll live up to whatever he committed to,” Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) said before the vote on Tuesday.

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Until the House elects a new speaker, lawmakers cannot conduct any legislative business, complicating lawmakers’ tight timeline to advance their appropriations bills before the Nov. 17 deadline. House Republicans are expected to hold a candidate forum on Tuesday evening, with the earliest possible vote being held on the following Wednesday.

However, it could take days to elect a new speaker if Republicans can’t coalesce around one nominee. It took 15 rounds of voting to elect McCarthy in January, with some GOP lawmakers suggesting it could take just as long this time around.