Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces a major test of his leadership in the days ahead, after one of his loudest Republican critics in the House reiterated a promise to try to remove him from his post.
It would be great if we could somehow get rid of both of these warts.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces a momentous challenge to his leadership after one of his most outspoken Republican critics repeated a threat on Monday to try to remove him as retribution for working with Democrats to avert a government shutdown.
Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, said he planned to move ahead with a resolution to oust Mr. McCarthy, which would prompt a snap vote on whether to remove him as speaker. In an appeal from the House floor, Mr. Gaetz accused the speaker of partnering with President Biden to advance Democratic policies.
“It is becoming increasingly clear who the speaker of the House already works for, and it’s not the Republican conference,” Mr. Gaetz said. He added later that Mr. McCarthy had allowed Mr. Biden to take his “lunch money in every negotiation.”
Mr. Gaetz cited Mr. McCarthy’s reliance on Democratic votes to push through the funding bill — a move that was necessary to avert a shutdown because Mr. Gaetz and 20 of his colleagues had opposed a temporary spending bill that was written by Republicans.
