House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) may not be out of the woods yet.
Despite announcing the launch of an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) insists McCarthy has violated the deal he struck to clinch the speaker’s gavel earlier this year and is warning he could face an effort to oust him as speaker.
In a speech on the House floor Tuesday, Gaetz warned, “Mr. Speaker you are out of compliance with the agreement that allowed you to assume this role.”
“The path forward for the House of Representatives is to either bring you into immediate total compliance, or remove you pursuant to a motion to vacate the chair,” he added.
Watch the video below:
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL): "Mr. Speaker you are out of compliance with agreement that allowed you to assume this role. The path forward for the House of Representatives is to either bring you into immediate total compliance, or remove you pursuant to a motion to vacate the chair." pic.twitter.com/TXcrrsRuiF
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 12, 2023
The Florida congressman went on to list a series of promises he said McCarthy had not fulfilled such as a vote on term limits or balanced budgets.
He also claimed there has been “insufficient accountability for the Biden crime family.”
Despite the news of a Biden impeachment inquiry, Gaetz argued efforts at accountability were not “real” because Hunter Biden had not been subpoenaed.
Finally, he called for McCarthy to hold votes on individual spending bills, balanced budgets, and term limits. Additionally, he called for the impeachment of Joe Biden and for Hunter Biden to be subpoenaed.
He went on:
“Do these things or face a motion to vacate the chair. And let me alert the country, a motion to vacate might not pass at first, but it might before the 15th vote. And if Democrats bail out McCarthy as they may do, then I will lead the resistance to this uni-party and the Biden, McCarthy, Jeffries government that they are trying to build.”
His comments come as lawmakers are facing a Sept. 30 deadline to keep the government open. The New York Times notes Congress has not passed any of its 12 annual spending bills, and lawmakers have just 11 days to do so. Congressional leaders reportedly believe a temporary stopgap measure will be needed to avoid a government shutdown.
Gaetz was one of the main Republicans who declined to support McCarthy in his bid to be speaker earlier in January.
In order to win the vote for speaker, McCarthy agreed to change the rules for a motion to vacate the chair. The new rules allow just one member to call for a vote to remove the speaker.
A simple House majority would be required to oust the California Republican as speaker. And over the weekend, Gaetz took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to suggest he might seek out Democratic votes to remove McCarthy from the position.
