Despite a Republican majority, it took fifteen votes in early January for Kevin McCarthy to be elected leader of the US House of Representatives. Facing the party’s most radical wing, one of the concessions he made to ultimately win was agreeing to return to the rule that a congressman’s vote would be enough to challenge his leadership. Nine months later, one of those who voted “present” at the time (in practice he abstained), Matt Gaetz, threatens to do just that, after McCarthy allied with the Democrats to secure a last-minute to block which would cripple the federal government.
“I think we need to rip the band off. I think we need to move to new leadership that can be trusted,” said Gaetz, a far-right Republican elected from Florida, admitting his plans to CNN on Sunday. “If someone wants to remove me because I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead, you can try,” had said in a challenging tone speaker the day before, after having secured, with the support of Democrats, an extension of the current budget until November, avoiding the need to send federal workers home for lack of payments.
Source: DN
