US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is facing a challenging situation within his divided caucus on Wednesday. His position as the leading Republican in Congress is in jeopardy due to opposition from the far-right faction, despite his decision to grant hardline conservatives the impeachment inquiry they had demanded.
McCarthy yielded to weeks of pressure from hardliners and supporters of former President Donald Trump by officially initiating an investigation into Democratic President Joe Biden. To circumvent opposition from as many as 20 House Republicans, he avoided a floor vote that would likely have failed.
Republican Representative Don Bacon, a centrist from Nebraska, emphasized the need to avoid using impeachment as a political tool against every president.
However, even after this announcement, hardline Representative Matt Gaetz raised the possibility of removing McCarthy based on an agreement he made when becoming Speaker. This deal grants any member the authority to call for a vote on McCarthy's removal.
Gaetz addressed McCarthy directly during a floor speech, stating that the speaker could face multiple "vacate the chair" votes for failing to comply with the secret agreement.
As the September 1 deadline for avoiding a government shutdown approaches, hardliners in the House are now pressing McCarthy to exclude border security provisions and other conservative priorities from any short-term stopgap spending measure to fund federal agencies.
Gaetz listed several measures that he claimed McCarthy had failed to advance, including a balanced budget, term limits, the full release of Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack videotapes, and a subpoena for Hunter Biden, President Biden's son.
Representative Chip Roy, who was involved in negotiations leading to the January agreement with McCarthy, confirmed that the speaker had not acted on the issues raised by Gaetz.
However, he did not comment on McCarthy's future as speaker, instead focusing on the need to meet hardline spending targets and address border security.
Representative Clay Higgins echoed the emphasis on passing appropriations bills with significant spending cuts, but he urged colleagues to carefully consider any motion to remove McCarthy.
While most hardliners have refrained from openly threatening McCarthy's position, they have expressed their disappointment over the prospect of him avoiding a government shutdown with support from House Democrats.
Representative Ralph Norman, a prominent member of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, described it as a "sad day for America" if McCarthy were to take such a step.
