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The Speaker of the US House of Representatives has been ousted in a historic vote.
It risks paralyzing the work of Congress and President Biden is appealing for a quick solution.
– Given the pressing challenges our country is facing, he (President Biden) hopes that the House of Representatives will quickly elect a new speaker, says White House press spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement after the vote in the House of Representatives.
The Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, was forced out of office by a vote of 216 to 210. It was one of McCarthy’s party colleagues, the ultra-conservative member Matt Gaetz, who took the initiative for the vote. Seven other Republicans voted with him and every Democrat present.
McCarthy will not, according to American media, run for re-election.
It is the first time in the history of the United States that the House of Representatives has removed its speaker and the post is vacant. Republican Patrick McHenry of North Carolina has been named temporary speaker. According to The New York Times, his main task will be to oversee the election of a new speaker.
Behind the criticism of McCarthy is a right-wing phalanx within the Republicans, with Florida Republican Gaetz at the head. Among other things, these have been angry that McCarthy contributed to the so-called debt ceiling in the US being raised. The phalanx wants to see a tight state budget with substantial cuts and withdrawn support for Ukraine.
The Democratic House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, wrote in a letter to his party colleagues before the vote that the party would not vote to save McCarthy.
“Now it’s up to Republican congressmen to end the Republican civil war in the House of Representatives,” Jeffries wrote in the letter, according to the AP.