House Republicans are in disarray after ousting Speaker Kevin McCarthy in an unprecedented vote, scrambling to pick a replacement who can unify a caucus that has recently struggled to agree on key legislative priorities.
The party’s more conservative and far-right members have long been a thorn in McCarthy’s side and finally brought about his downfall less than 10 months after he won a hard-fought contest for the speakership. Democrats refused to save McCarthy after he ruled out making concessions in exchange for their support.
His potential successors face an uphill battle to capture the 218 votes needed to become the next speaker. Legislative business in the House, meanwhile, has ground to a halt at a moment when lawmakers are staring down a fast-approaching November deadline to fund the government for the next year.
It’s yet another display of congressional dysfunction wrought by the GOP, just days after Republican hardliners prepared to shut down the government over a laundry list of unattainable demands. And it raises doubts about whether anyone can keep the Republican caucus in line enough to carry out the basic functions of the House — or if chaos will continue regardless of who’s in the speaker’s chair.
Here are your biggest questions about the fallout from McCarthy’s ousting and what could happen next, answered.
1) How did McCarthy lose the speaker job?
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) led the charge to strip McCarthy of the speakership after he cut a deal with Democrats to fund the government for another 45 days — just before it would have otherwise shut down at the hands of right-wing rebels in the caucus. Gaetz brought a motion to vacate on the House floor Monday night, a procedural move that had never before been successfully used to oust a speaker.
This time, however, was different.
Although McCarthy had most of his caucus behind him, he needed a majority of the House to vote against his removal to stay in power. At the moment, the GOP…
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