Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) pushed through a bill — with 209 Democratic votes — to temporarily keep the government open until mid November. The stopgap measure, which was signed by President Joe Biden late Saturday, averted a government shutdown which would have affected the salaries of two million members of the military and 1.5 million federal employees.
The measure was approved on a vote of 335 to 91, with 209 Democrats and 126 Republicans voting in favor and 90 Republicans and one Democrat in opposition.
Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ), one of the Republicans who voted in opposition of the bill, criticized McCarthy for “allowing the DC Uniparty to win again,” and questioned his leadership by posing the question on X (formerly Twitter): “Should he remain Speaker of the House?”
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who also voted against the bill, has threatened to try to oust McCarthy from his speakership. McCarthy responded to Gaetz’s threat on CBS’s Face the Nation (watch below), and said: “Bring it on.”
Gaetz would need 219 votes to vacate the Speaker seat. McCarthy says in the segment that he knows Gaetz has already reached out to Democrats like Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Choosing those two lawmakers puts an emphasis on the uphill climb Gaetz will have in ousting McCarthy.
Swalwell, one of the Democrats who voted in favor of the bill, wrote on X: “I really admire Speaker McCarthy for putting clowns like Biggs and Gaetz in an absolute box. They’ll never have the courage to try and remove him. McCarthy has really played them.“
I really admire @SpeakerMcCarthy for putting clowns like Biggs and Gaetz in an absolute box. They’ll never have the courage to try and remove him. McCarthy has really played them. https://t.co/dW00XmEmmw
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) September 30, 2023
Note: Now the deadline for getting federal spending bills passed is November 17.
