McConnell urges next House speaker to abolish motion to vacate after McCarthy ouster

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) urged former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) replacement on Wednesday to eliminate the motion to vacate after the procedural tool was used to force the latter’s historic ouster.

McCarthy announced his decision not to seek the speaker’s gavel again on Tuesday, shortly after coming just shy of the 218 votes needed to win back the role. He had lost the gavel earlier in the day when Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed a motion to vacate, ending his speakership less than nine months after it began.

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Senate Republicans were aghast at the news, with even the most conservative members expressing dismay over McCarthy losing the House’s top job.

“I have no advice to give to House Republicans, except one: I hope whoever the next speaker is gets rid of the motion to vacate,” McConnell said at his weekly leadership press conference. “I think it makes the speaker’s job impossible, and the American people expect us to have a functioning government.”

The motion, McConnell reiterated at the end of the press conference, “puts whoever the speaker is a hammerlock of potential dysfunction.”

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The top Senate Republican heaped praise on the former House speaker as he tried to hold on to the gavel, telling reporters on Tuesday morning that he was “pulling for” McCarthy. He also commended McCarthy for his “service to our nation in what is often a thankless role” after his ouster.

McConnell is not the only Republican lawmaker calling for the House to establish some sort of motion to vacate reform. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), a McCarthy ally, has said he won’t vote for a new speaker until changes are made to the motion to vacate process to prevent another midsession ouster.