By Jackson Richman, Steve Lance and Jan Jekielek
Eight House Republicans in total voted with Democrats to remove the speaker.
Reps. Bob Good (R-Va.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) explained on Oct. 4 why they voted to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as speaker of the House.
Mr. Good, Mr. Burchett, and Mr. Rosendale joined five other Republicans in partnering with Democrats to strip Mr. McCarthy of the gavel on Oct. 3: Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who put forth the motion to vacate on Oct. 2.
Mr. Good and Mr. Rosendale exclusively told Steve Lance, the anchor of “Capitol Report” on NTD, The Epoch Times’ sister media outlet, why they voted in favor of the motion to vacate.
Mr. Rosendale said Mr. McCarthy had a “lack of trustworthiness.”
During his tenure, the House approved legislation dealing with U.S. energy and border security, and a conservative National Defense Authorization Act that included a 5.5 percent increase in military pay.
However, “the only place that we had failures was when Kevin McCarthy was left to his own means to negotiate large spending legislation,” Mr. Rosendale said, which included the debt ceiling bill and the continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government for another 45 days.
“So while I do believe that we must compromise and collaborate, especially when we have divided government, what I will not stand for is a speaker to mislead us, to tell us false information, and to allow the Democrats to actually dictate the legislation that is coming out of this body when we hold the majority,” he said.
Mr. Good echoed Mr. Rosendale’s reasons for ousting Mr. McCarthy as speaker. He cited the debt ceiling deal, which Mr. McCarthy negotiated with President Joe Biden months ago, and the CR, which passed on Sept. 30. The latter, Mr. Good said, was the “last straw” for him.
Mr. Burchett, like Mr. Good, noted that the United States is $33 trillion in debt. He also cited the CR as a reason behind his vote to oust Mr. McCarthy from the speaker’s chair. He told The Epoch Times’ Jan Jekielek that passing the CR to have enough time to enact a long-term appropriations bill does nothing to solve the problem.
“Enough is enough,” he said. “We sent a message. And the Democrats joined with us, we didn’t join with them. And now we’ve got a new speaker, and we’ll have a new speaker.”
Is House GOP Unity in Order?
Mr. Good and Mr. Rosendale said that ousting Mr. McCarthy wouldn’t divide the GOP.
“We saw again tempers flare after the January debate about who was actually going to be the speaker,” Mr. Rosendale said, referring to the 15 balloting rounds that ended with Mr. McCarthy winning the speaker race. “And we saw a lot of really good work come together after that. I certainly believe that that’s a temporary situation.”
However, Mr. Burchett, who has been in Congress since 2019, said that representing Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District, and not party unity, is what matters to him.
“I don’t represent anybody in Washington, D.C., that works out here or lives up here,” he said.
“I’m not going to violate my oath to office and I’m not going to lie to the people back home,” he added. “That’s what I came up here to do. And if I, if they run me out of town on a rail, that’s the cost.”
Mr. Good said that the next speaker will be someone who “will reflect the conservative center of the Republican conference, someone who’ll be a more of a fighter, more of a leader, and will have the trust and the respect of the conference in order to get 218 votes.”
Jordan, Scalise to Seek Speakership
On Oct. 4, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) were the first to throw their hats into the ring to succeed Mr. McCarthy.
A candidate forum is scheduled for when the House returns on Oct. 10, with the speaker election set for the following day.
Although Mr. Scalise has been seen as a logical successor, he has been battling cancer, which would likely cause him to miss some time in Congress.
After the motion to vacate the office of the speaker was approved in a 216–210 vote on Oct. 3, Mr. McCarthy announced that he wouldn’t run for speaker again.
Mr. McCarthy, who was the 55th speaker, told the caucus that he didn’t want to surrender to the Democrats, according to Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee. Mr. Hern hasn’t ruled out making a bid for speaker.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) is serving as speaker pro tempore until a replacement is voted in.
Regardless of who will take over from Mr. McCarthy, the U.S. government is set to shut down in a little more than 40 days, when the funding from the McCarthy-backed continuing resolution runs out.
Additionally, an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden is underway that involves the House Judiciary Committee.
During Mr. McCarthy’s tenure as speaker, the House approved legislation related to the debt ceiling, border security, energy, parental rights in education, and other issues.
Only the debt ceiling bill, which he negotiated with President Biden, became law.