Could US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy lose his job?
Al JazeeraHardline Republicans are threatening to oust their own party’s speaker — using a rule McCarthy himself introduced. It was a moment of victory for United States House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy that has also left the veteran Republican’s job at risk. In a Sunday post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, McCarthy said: “I just signed and sent this short-term stop-gap bill to the White House in order to fund our troops, deliver emergency relief, and keep government open while Congress gets back to work through regular order.” But a small group of hardline Republicans who were calling for spending cuts from federal agencies and changes to border security is upset over McCarthy’s collaboration with Democrats to get the bill passed. Matt Gaetz, a Republican congressman from Florida, is leading calls for McCarthy’s ouster after the speaker’s critics within his own party said they would take action if he worked with the Democrats on the funding bill. The motion could compromise McCarthy’s stature as a Republican leader because he might need to draw on significant support from Democrats in the House to survive such a vote.