Congress is quickly shifting from one crisis to the next.
After brokering an 11th-hour deal with Democrats to keep the government funded through November, Republican U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is facing the biggest threat to his job to date — and GOP members of Georgia’s congressional delegation are already picking sides in the looming showdown.
Far-right U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Monday night filed a “motion to vacate” the Speaker’s chair. After more than a dozen speaker ballots at the opening of this Congress, McCarthy had cut a deal with his detractors that would allow just one member of his conference to file a motion to oust the Speaker, among other concessions.
The Speaker must then schedule a vote on the motion within 48 hours, which means McCarthy’s fate could be decided as early as Tuesday.
It didn’t take long for Georgia’s Republican congressmembers to start putting on their jerseys. With a razor-thin House majority, Speaker McCarthy can only afford to lose four Republican votes.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Rome) has emerged as one of McCarthy’s unlikeliest allies. The rabble-rousing congresswoman supported him in all 15 speaker ballots last January and even helped him whip votes for his debt limit deal with White House.
Her close relationship with Speaker McCarthy has alienated members of the far-right Freedom Caucus. She was apparently ejected from the group after getting into a profanity-filled shouting match with a colleague on the House floor.
Greene, in a long post on social media, had strong words for her “friend” Matt Gaetz and said that she does not support his motion to oust McCarthy. She says that it would give the “upper hand” to the Democrats as the sun rises on another campaign season.
“Republicans need to get off the power trips, stop the absurd drama, remember who the enemy is, stop fighting with each other, and get serious about solving the problems that produce annual systemic failure,” said Greene.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Pooler) says he supports McCarthy.
U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Suwanee) appeared to give a more half-hearted endorsement of McCarthy. “In the Marine corps, sometimes you get a commanding officer you don’t really like,” he said, “but you still have a mission to accomplish.
The Georgia Republican most likely to support ousting McCarthy is U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde. The Athens gun shop owner was one of roughly two dozen far-right members who fought to derail McCarthy’s ascension to the speakership last January. Clyde has not picked a side as of Tuesday morning.
Georgia’s five U.S. House Democrats could also play a key role in deciding Speaker McCarthy’s fate. For every Republican vote he loses, he will need to find an equal number of Democrats willing to rescue his speakership.
But Democrats have expressed concerns about salvaging a Speaker that they don’t trust. They also say that it is not the minority party’s job to determine who is in charge of the majority party, or even set the rules for how the chamber operates.
Many Democrats are expected to follow the lead of minority leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Both sides are having private caucus meetings Tuesday morning.
UPDATE: Clyde says he will oppose the motion to vacate.