US House of Representatives Speaker removed for the first time, with Ukraine among the reasons

Kevin McCarthy, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, the lower house of Congress, was predictably ousted on Tuesday under pressure from the far-right wing of his Republican party, which has accused him of collaborating with Democrats and making a "secret deal" to help Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda

Details: McCarthy's decision for resignation was supported by 216 members of the House of Representatives, including eight members of the Republican Party, while 210 Congressmen and Congresswomen opposed it.

For the first time in US history, the speaker of the lower house of Congress was removed from office under the Motion to Vacate procedure, which allows a certain number of Congressmen and Congresswomen to put the issue to a vote. In addition, the last vote to remove the Speaker of the House took place more than 110 years ago.

Kevin McCarthy became the Speaker of the House of Representatives only at the 15th attempt in January 2023 after reaching a deal with far-right Republicans. Among other things, this stipulated that a motion to vacate could be initiated by only one Congressman or Congresswoman.

This mechanism has become leverage for the far right on McCarthy, as the vote on Tuesday showed that the Democratic Party would not support the speaker if a motion to dismiss were brought up.

McCarthy's move was initiated by Matt Gaetz, a representative of the far-right wing of his party, who expressed outrage at the passage of a resolution on temporary federal funding to avoid a shutdown with Democratic votes.

Although the resolution did not include funds to help Ukraine, Heitz claimed that McCarthy had made a "secret deal" with US President Joe Biden to approve support for Kyiv in its fight against full-scale Russian aggression.

It is known that McCarthy himself is not fundamentally opposed to providing Ukraine with military and other assistance, unlike his far-right "colleagues", but he publicly demanded that the Biden administration guarantee accountability for the funds spent, and that the Ukrainian side provide a "victory plan" in the war.

Following McCarthy's resignation, his position will be temporarily taken up by Republican Patrick McHenry, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who voted against the ouster of the speaker.

The House will now begin the process of electing a new permanent chair. It is impossible to predict how long it will take, as the Republicans have a slim majority – 221 against 212 for the Democrats – and only five of them have enough votes to block any appointment.

It should be noted that before the vote, the White House expressed confidence that despite the situation with McCarthy's removal from office, Congress would be able to support additional funding for Ukraine's defence needs.

At present, $1.6 billion of the $25.9 billion allocated by Congress to replenish the arms stockpile that was sent to Ukraine is reportedly left over. In addition, the United States has about $5.4 billion left to supply weapons and equipment from its stockpile. The United States would have exhausted these funds had the Pentagon not realised earlier this year that it had overestimated the equipment it had already sent.

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