Kevin McCarthy did two things right, but too many other things wrong. His extraordinary ouster that unsettled Washington on Tuesday and left the House in chaos was the culmination of a tumultuous nine months that began in unprecedented fashion in January with 15 roll call votes to claim his gavel and ended in unprecedented fashion […]
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Who out there picked nine months in the office betting pool for how long Kevin McCarthy would survive as House speaker? Go ahead. Raise your hands. Looks like you’re due a victory lap. On Tuesday, the right-wing extremists made good on their long-dangled threat to depose Mr. McCarthy — whom they never wanted or trusted […]
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The House voted on Tuesday to oust Representative Kevin McCarthy from the speakership, a move without precedent that left the chamber without a leader and plunged it into chaos. After a far-right challenge to Mr. McCarthy’s leadership, eight G.O.P. hard-liners joined Democrats to strip the California Republican of the speaker’s gavel. The 216-to-210 vote reflected […]
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He is polarizing in Washington and polarizing at home. And in both places these days, he is getting more attention than anyone might expect, given his lack of seniority and thin legislative record. As Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida orchestrated the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday, constituents in his overwhelmingly Republican district had […]
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On Sunday, then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy seemed awfully confident. He’d just teamed up with House Democrats to avert a disastrous shutdown of the federal government. That had enraged fellow House Republicans, most notably Matt Gaetz, who vowed to bring a vote to remove him from the gig he just barely nabbed in early […]
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The U.S. Capitol may be perched on a hill, but it is understandable why so many Americans look down on it. One of the main reasons is that their Congress, which ought to be a global beacon of liberal values, continues to succumb to self-inflicted paralysis. How else can it be that fewer than a […]
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On Tuesday Kevin McCarthy made history. It wasn’t good history, mind you. Instead he earned two unfortunate milestones: He became the first House Speaker to be removed, and he became the House Speaker with the shortest tenure, beating Michael Crawford Kerr, whose stint ended in 1876 after he died of tuberculosis. After the vote the […]
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On Tuesday, Kevin McCarthy’s stint as Speaker of the House ended it as it began: in abject humiliation. After less than 10 months on the job, a vote to oust him, brought on by his mortal enemy Matt Gaetz, ended in triumph. House Democrats sided with a slim cabal of MAGA hardliners, bringing the final […]
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Depending on how many people show up for the final vote, McCarthy can only afford to lose between four to six Republicans. So McCarthy’s best bet is to win over some of the aforementioned lawmakers. Burchett is the only Republican on this list who didn’t repeatedly block McCarthy’s bid for House speaker back in January, […]
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Depending on how many people show up for the final vote, McCarthy can only afford to lose between four to six Republicans. So McCarthy’s best bet is to win over some of the aforementioned lawmakers. Burchett is the only Republican on this list who didn’t repeatedly block McCarthy’s bid for House speaker back in January, […]
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Depending on how many people show up for the final vote, McCarthy can only afford to lose between four to six Republicans. So McCarthy’s best bet is to win over some of the aforementioned lawmakers. Burchett is the only Republican on this list who didn’t repeatedly block McCarthy’s bid for House speaker back in January, […]
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Depending on how many people show up for the final vote, McCarthy can only afford to lose between four to six Republicans. So McCarthy’s best bet is to win over some of the aforementioned lawmakers. Burchett is the only Republican on this list who didn’t repeatedly block McCarthy’s bid for House speaker back in January, […]
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“Demeanor means a lot in this institution, because demeanor generally dictates confidence,” said Representative Richard Neal. “I think that he’s got confidence in himself, and we’ve got confidence in him.” The contrast between McCarthy and Jeffries was established the first week of the new congressional term, when a group of recalcitrant Republican lawmakers—including Representative Matt […]
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Kevin McCarthy’s fate could be determined by just a handful of votes. Precisely how many he needs to survive — or how many his opponents need to oust him — depends on how many House members show up to vote. Before the House votes on the resolution to remove Mr. McCarthy, they will first consider […]
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If not Speaker Kevin McCarthy, then who? That was the question hanging over the Capitol on Tuesday, as it became clear that Democrats were not going to help Mr. McCarthy survive the vote to oust him. That there isn’t an obvious answer to the question was part of Mr. McCarthy’s ability to win the bruising […]
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Representative Matt Gaetz’s push to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy has cemented his status as one of the most reviled members of the House of Representatives — including among many of his fellow Republicans — and drawn attention to a long-running investigation by the House Ethics Committee into his conduct. Mr. McCarthy has argued that Mr. […]
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Naturally, Newsom doesn’t have to actually keep his promise about appointing a Black woman. In 2021, when Kamala Harris resigned from her Senate seat to become vice president, Newsom appointed Alex Padilla, who became the state’s first Latino senator. But assuming he does stick to his word, there are still some options. Names that have […]
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Naturally, Newsom doesn’t have to actually keep his promise about appointing a Black woman. In 2021, when Kamala Harris resigned from her Senate seat to become vice president, Newsom appointed Alex Padilla, who became the state’s first Latino senator. But assuming he does stick to his word, there are still some options. Names that have […]
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Naturally, Newsom doesn’t have to actually keep his promise about appointing a Black woman. In 2021, when Kamala Harris resigned from her Senate seat to become vice president, Newsom appointed Alex Padilla, who became the state’s first Latino senator. But assuming he does stick to his word, there are still some options. Names that have […]
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A House mutiny messes up the markets Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida moved on Monday to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker, looking to exact punishment on the top House Republican for siding with Democrats to forge a short-term deal to avert a government shutdown. The extraordinary power play — just the third time in more […]
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Representative Matt Gaetz pressed forward on Monday evening to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his post, setting the stage for a dramatic showdown this week between Mr. McCarthy and his conservative critics. Mr. Gaetz, a Republican from Florida, made what is known as a motion to vacate. Any single lawmaker can make such a motion, […]
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The hard-right threat to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his post has presented House Democrats with a tricky question: Should they help rescue the California Republican who has worked against their agenda and recently opened an impeachment inquiry against President Biden? Mr. McCarthy’s slender majority and the size of the band of right-wing rebels working […]
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Naturally, Newsom doesn’t have to actually keep his promise about appointing a Black woman. In 2021, when Kamala Harris resigned from her Senate seat to become vice president, Newsom appointed Alex Padilla, who became the state’s first Latino senator. But assuming he does stick to his word, there are still some options. Names that have […]
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Gail Collins: I didn’t think I’d be saying this, Bret, but we’ve dodged a shutdown. It’s a stupendous moment for Kevin McCarthy. Now if he gets tossed out as House speaker by the right wing, he’ll go down in history as the guy who sacrificed his career for the common good. As opposed to the […]
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Kevin McCarthy faces a momentous challenge to his speakership this week, as one of his most outspoken Republican critics in the House has said he will try to remove him from his leadership role as retribution for working with Democrats to avert a government shutdown. On Sunday, that critic, Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, said […]
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Extremists in my party have threatened to try and remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy for relying on the votes of Democrats to keep the government open. Some of them appear to be authoritarian separatists who reject pluralism — a founding American principle that expects disparate groups to come together to keep the government functioning. Some of […]
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Only an extremely shallow man would repeatedly wait until the last possible moment to do the right thing, no matter how obvious that thing might be. But in today’s Washington, the Republican Party usually doesn’t do the right thing at all, so the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, deserves some credit for putting his job on […]
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Matt Gaetz does not like that Kevin McCarthy. There have been some theories about the genesis of his anger (maybe McCarthy allegedly insulting him in front of a young aide didn’t help), but whatever the case the Florida lawmaker has it out for him. At the top of the year, he’s gummed up the works […]
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Speaker Kevin McCarthy began the final day before a government shutdown pinned against the ropes, facing dim prospects of passing any stopgap funding measure to avert the crisis that was to go into effect when the clock struck 12:01 a.m. on Sunday. He ended it still on the ropes, having bucked expectations and passed a […]
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Dianne Feinstein, who died on Thursday at 90, was the first senator to die in office since John McCain in 2018. But since the first Congress convened in 1789, deaths in office have been a fairly regular occurrence. “You look back in history, nearly one in 10 members of Congress have,” Jane L. Campbell, the […]
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Saturday was a tense one on Capitol Hill. It was the final day Congress had to avert a government shutdown — the 15th time it would have happened in the last 40-some years. Spoiler: The House passed an 11th hour bipartisan bill, which was to then head to the Senate. It was a wild day, […]
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