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GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California is resigning months after his ouster as House speaker

GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California is resigning months after his ouster as House speaker
You expect there to be *** vote this week. I expect there to be *** vote and elect *** new speaker this week. I asked him in there. I know *** lot of them want to nominate me. I told him, please do not nominate me. Uh We said *** prayer for Israel as you know, every year I would lead the new members to Israel. We do on *** bipartisan basis. On our last trip, we went down to visit the border along Gaza, see the iron dome and we went and toured the kibbutz. That is the exact same one that you found the atrocities today of young babies being murdered, being decapitated. The talk today is we have *** job in there, but more importantly, we have *** job to do something right now. There is *** crisis in the world. There's *** void of leadership. We need to stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel. We need to make sure Hamas is destroyed. We need to make sure the resources that go to terrorists from Iran is stopped. The sanctions are already there. I laid out *** five point plan yesterday. The president right now should be very clear to the rest of the world that the American hostages have to come home now that we will not accept anything that goes against these hostages and we will have vengeance if they do one thing to them. The other thing, we need to resupply Israel with the ammunition they need, we need to impose the sanctions that are already there. When President Biden took office, Iran was only able to produce 400,000 barrels *** day. Now, they're at 3 million, they are getting billions upon billions of dollars that they are spreading to terrorism around the world. He needs to stop the appeasement. He needs to redirect his administration that the number one greatest challenge and threat to America is not. Climate change is the threat of terrorism on our southern border. Climate change is important and we can deal with it. But this border is wide open where we have more than 151 people so far on the FBI terrorist watch list that we have caught. Coming across. In 2019, we had zero. He needs to reverse his policies to make America safe and make the world *** better place. I haven't endorsed anyone. I left the conference. You came late. I already told him not to nominate the rule under which all this is gonna play out the same rules we've always had. Listen, what, what transpires tonight is though there will be, um, *** debate between two members. I think two will be nominated. I don't know if anybody else will be nominated there. They will lay out their plan to unite this conference. It, it's, it's more than selecting *** speaker if this conference continues to allow 4% of the conference to partner with Democrats. When 96% of the Republicans want something else, they will never lead the things that we've been able to accomplish from the parents bill of rights. From the greatest sec, most conservative border security that we've ever been able to pass. We make America energy independent to have the greatest cuts in spending. This co this congress has ever voted for more than two trillion to work requirements then, and I wanna thank for one moment for those who disagreed with me to think for one moment that eight of them will join with all the Democrats because I kept the government open. I want you to all think of one thing. Where would we be in the world right now if we were not paying our troops and Israel is at war and people question what's happening in American government? That is the challenge. And that's why I think, well, do you think that Republicans will have *** change to the one to the one member motion to file? Thank you, the chair. Do you think that's off the table for the time being? I, I don't know. They, they, they can decide if that look the one, the one thing I see is, uh, we went 15 rounds on the floor. I think where the world is today. They shouldn't come out of there until they decide that they have enough votes for whoever they bring to the floor can become speaker. What happened to you by putting *** bill on the floor to the next II I, well, well, first of all, I would do it again. I think it's important. Whoever takes that job is willing to risk the job for doing what's right for the American public. Think for one moment if we were sitting here sending the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier strike team into the Middle East when they didn't even know if they were going to get paid. How could we even do that? If the troops were not being paid, we wouldn't be able to go forward. So exactly what I would do, I would do again. So whoever takes the job, I want to make this commitment to the American people, they're gonna do. What's right? Even if it risks their job to do it. What do you feel about the consensus? Do you feel like you guys, you guys are getting close to *** decision here or do you think it will take *** day or two or more? I think those who are running, gonna have to unite people. They have to show out *** clear plan and I think it's good for members in there. To talk about it, be honest with one another, but I do believe they should make that decision in there before we go back to the floor, especially in the situation. We are in the world right now. Look after 9 11, we, we changed the course that I if the speaker was ever deposed, that you could put *** speaker pro TEM in. That speaker pro TEM should be able to do the job until someone new is elected. You want the continuity of government? It should be no question, Patrick mchenry should be able to bang in bang the gave in move legislation. Why we pick *** decision? Who's speaker? It was the whole concept after 9 11 for *** continuity of government. If you didn't have *** speaker, that's why we created that. That's why I named him and he should be able to do the job. I don't think people should question.
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GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California is resigning months after his ouster as House speaker
Two months after his historic ouster as House speaker, Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California announced on Wednesday that he is resigning from his congressional seat and will leave by the end of the year.Related video above: Kevin McCarthy discusses House speaker vote in October 2023, days after he was oustedHis announcement capped a stunning end for the one-time deli counter owner from Bakersfield, who ascended through state and national politics to become second in line to the presidency before a contingent of hard-right conservatives engineered his removal in October.McCarthy is the only speaker in history to be voted out of the job.“No matter the odds, or personal cost, we did the right thing," McCarthy wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, announcing his decision.“It is in this spirit that I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways,” he wrote.An announcement on McCarthy's future had been expected, days before the filing deadline to seek reelection. But his decision ricocheted across Capitol Hill, where his departure will leave the already paper-thin House GOP majority even tighter, with just a few seats to spare.It comes during a wave of retirements in the House, which has been riven by Republican infighting, and the rare expulsion last week of indicted GOP Rep. George Santos of New York, dashing hopes for major accomplishments and leaving the majority straining to conduct the basic business of governing.McCarthy had brought the Republicans into the majority but found it was much more difficult to lead the GOP's hard-edged factions.His toppling from the chamber’s top post was fueled by grievances from his party’s hard-right flank, including over his decision to work with Democrats to keep the federal government open rather than risk a shutdown.McCarthy, 58, arrived in the House in January 2007 after a stint in the California Assembly, where he served as minority leader. In Congress, he maneuvered through his party’s hierarchy — serving as majority whip and Republican leader along the way — before being elected speaker in January 2023.The dayslong floor fight that preceded his elevation to the House’s top job foreshadowed a stormy tenure, at a time when former President Donald Trump remained the de facto leader of the party and deep divisions within the GOP raised serious questions about the party’s ability to govern.It took a record 15 votes over four days for McCarthy to line up the support he needed to win the post he had long coveted, finally prevailing on a 216-212 vote with Democrats backing leader Hakeem Jeffries and six Republican holdouts voting present. Not since the Civil War era has a speaker’s vote dragged through so many rounds of counting.McCarthy emerged from the fight weakened, especially considering Republicans held only a fragile margin in the chamber after a predicted “red wave” failed to materialize in the 2022 elections.Once installed as speaker, his well-known savvy for fundraising and political glad-handing appeared ill-suited for corralling his party’s disputatious hard-right faction. And deals he cut to become speaker — including a rules change that allowed any single lawmaker to file a motion to remove him — left him vulnerable.When he became speaker, “he faced new challenges that required a different skill set,” said Claremont McKenna College political scientist Jack Pitney, a one-time domestic policy analyst for House Republicans. And “the deals he made to become speaker made it almost impossible for him to succeed as speaker.”McCarthy, the son of a firefighter and a homemaker, has long depicted himself as an unflagging battler. He is fond of quoting his father, who told him, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”McCarthy hails from Bakersfield, a Republican-leaning area in Central California where oil derricks blanket hillsides and country music fans pack into Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace hall. Far from the Southern California beaches and tony San Francisco restaurants, farming and oil pumping shape the economy.

Two months after his historic ouster as House speaker, Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California announced on Wednesday that he is resigning from his congressional seat and will leave by the end of the year.

Related video above: Kevin McCarthy discusses House speaker vote in October 2023, days after he was ousted

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His announcement capped a stunning end for the one-time deli counter owner from Bakersfield, who ascended through state and national politics to become second in line to the presidency before a contingent of hard-right conservatives engineered his removal in October.

McCarthy is the only speaker in history to be voted out of the job.

“No matter the odds, or personal cost, we did the right thing," McCarthy wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, announcing his decision.

“It is in this spirit that I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways,” he wrote.

An announcement on McCarthy's future had been expected, days before the filing deadline to seek reelection. But his decision ricocheted across Capitol Hill, where his departure will leave the already paper-thin House GOP majority even tighter, with just a few seats to spare.

It comes during a wave of retirements in the House, which has been riven by Republican infighting, and the rare expulsion last week of indicted GOP Rep. George Santos of New York, dashing hopes for major accomplishments and leaving the majority straining to conduct the basic business of governing.

McCarthy had brought the Republicans into the majority but found it was much more difficult to lead the GOP's hard-edged factions.

His toppling from the chamber’s top post was fueled by grievances from his party’s hard-right flank, including over his decision to work with Democrats to keep the federal government open rather than risk a shutdown.

McCarthy, 58, arrived in the House in January 2007 after a stint in the California Assembly, where he served as minority leader. In Congress, he maneuvered through his party’s hierarchy — serving as majority whip and Republican leader along the way — before being elected speaker in January 2023.

The dayslong floor fight that preceded his elevation to the House’s top job foreshadowed a stormy tenure, at a time when former President Donald Trump remained the de facto leader of the party and deep divisions within the GOP raised serious questions about the party’s ability to govern.

It took a record 15 votes over four days for McCarthy to line up the support he needed to win the post he had long coveted, finally prevailing on a 216-212 vote with Democrats backing leader Hakeem Jeffries and six Republican holdouts voting present. Not since the Civil War era has a speaker’s vote dragged through so many rounds of counting.

McCarthy emerged from the fight weakened, especially considering Republicans held only a fragile margin in the chamber after a predicted “red wave” failed to materialize in the 2022 elections.

Once installed as speaker, his well-known savvy for fundraising and political glad-handing appeared ill-suited for corralling his party’s disputatious hard-right faction. And deals he cut to become speaker — including a rules change that allowed any single lawmaker to file a motion to remove him — left him vulnerable.

When he became speaker, “he faced new challenges that required a different skill set,” said Claremont McKenna College political scientist Jack Pitney, a one-time domestic policy analyst for House Republicans. And “the deals he made to become speaker made it almost impossible for him to succeed as speaker.”

McCarthy, the son of a firefighter and a homemaker, has long depicted himself as an unflagging battler. He is fond of quoting his father, who told him, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

McCarthy hails from Bakersfield, a Republican-leaning area in Central California where oil derricks blanket hillsides and country music fans pack into Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace hall. Far from the Southern California beaches and tony San Francisco restaurants, farming and oil pumping shape the economy.