Constitution
Motion to vacate provoking recrimination
Matt Gaetz stirred up a hornets’ nest with his motion to vacate the chair. The Freedom Caucus is at war with the Establishment.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) kicked over a hornets’ nest when he filed a motion to vacate the chair last night. Many observers praised him because, from their point of view, he stopped talking and started acting. But others are actively opposing his motion, and also opposing the man himself.
The motion to vacate
A motion to vacate the chair is a privileged motion to declare that the House of Representatives has no Speaker. According to House Rules, privileged motions require a vote within two legislative days. The countdown starts when the introducer, or any other Member, calls for a floor vote. Of course that means that whoever files the motion, has two legislative days to line up enough “Aye” votes. Anyone opposed to the motion can file a motion to “table” it, or refer it to a committee. If that happens, the vote does not take place. But absent such maneuvers, a motion to vacate requires a simple majority to pass.
According to National Public Radio, the last time anyone filed a motion to vacate in the House was 2015. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) filed it against then-Speaker John Boehner. Before the two legislative days had passed, Boehner resigned his Speakership on his own.
Rep. Gaetz told CNN’s State of the Union that he and his friends needed to “rip off the Band-Aid.” Last month he served notice on Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the current Speaker, that the latter had violated the agreement he had made to become Speaker.
For his part, McCarthy, on CBS’ Face the Nation, made a defiant riposte. He told interviewer Margaret Brennan,
You know, this is personal with Matt. Matt voted against the most conservative ability to protect our border secure our border. He’s more interested in securing TV interviews than doing something. He wanted to push us into a shutdown, even threatening his own district with all the military people there who would not be paid. Only because he wants to take this motion, so be it. Bring it on! Let’s get over with it, and let’s start governing. If he’s upset because he tried to push us in a shutdown, and I made sure government didn’t shut down, then let’s have that fight.
Last night at 7:38 p.m. EDT, Matt Gaetz brought it on.
At 8:01 p.m. EDT, Collin Rugg shared video of Gaetz giving an interview to CNN earlier.
MTG says, Not so fast
Laura Loomer immediately celebrated:
Last night, an account parodying Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) gave what purported to be a warning.
But today the real Marjorie Taylor Greene expressed opposition.
This morning Rep. Greene offered this on her personal account:
Laura Loomer is having none of that:
Matt Gaetz faces a firestorm of criticism from establishment Republicans. They actually want to expel him from their Conference and strip him of all committee assignments.
However, expelling him from Congress itself would prove insurmountable. That would require a two-thirds vote of the full House.
According to NPR, the Democrats can’t seem to make up their minds. They hate him, but they hate Freedom Caucus Republicans, too.
House Rules specify a line of succession for a Speaker pro tempore. But such an officer is not a Speaker within the meaning of the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, as amended. Therefore Presidential succession would pass immediately to the President pro tempore of the Senate.
Terry A. Hurlbut has been a student of politics, philosophy, and science for more than 35 years. He is a graduate of Yale College and has served as a physician-level laboratory administrator in a 250-bed community hospital. He also is a serious student of the Bible, is conversant in its two primary original languages, and has followed the creation-science movement closely since 1993.
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