McCarthy Getting Revenge on Democrats Who Helped Boot Him from Speakership
The new Republican leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives appeared to be taking revenge against Democratic House members for their votes to remove the Republican speaker of the House Tuesday.
Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, hand-picked by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to serve as speaker pro tempore (essentially the same as an acting speaker), has begun kicking prominent Democrats out of their Capitol office spaces.
The move comes after Florida’s Matt Gaetz and seven other Republicans allied themselves with a unanimous Democratic caucus to remove the California Republican as speaker.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi may or may not have been the first to get the boot, but her eviction notice was the first to be reported Tuesday.
Then, early Wednesday morning, Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that former House minority whip Steny Hoyer was being “kicked out of his Capitol hideaway” as well.
NEWS — HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP has kicked @RepStenyHoyer out of his Capitol hideaway.
Republicans — McCarthy — are taking revenge for Democrats voting with @mattgaetz to boot @SpeakerMcCarthy from the speakership.
Expect more of this, GOP sources tell us.
Me and…
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 4, 2023
whether you think it’s right or wrong, Republicans are going to exact revenge for a long while over the MTV vote. yes, it was an internal party squabble. but the GOP thinks Dems shouldn’t have sided w Gaetz.
remember: the majority controls the Capitol. Rooms, codels, etc. https://t.co/vA1spcmSdl
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 4, 2023
Sherman reminded readers that Capitol real estate is in short supply, and that supply is controlled by whoever holds a majority in the House.
“[W]hether you think it’s right or wrong, Republicans are going to exact revenge for a long while over the MTV vote,” he wrote. “[Y]es, it was an internal party squabble. [B]ut the GOP thinks Dems shouldn’t have sided w Gaetz.”
“Expect more of this, GOP sources tell us,” he said.
McHenry sent Pelosi literally packing with an order for her to vacate her private office space in the Capitol, Politico first reported.
The action was one of the first he took after he became speaker pro tempore in the aftermath of the vote that removed McCarthy, according to Fox News.
The message was delivered by email, Politico wrote.
“Please vacate the space tomorrow, the room will be re-keyed,” the email from the House Administration Committee stated.
The room was being reassigned, the email stated, “for speaker office use.”
Politico noted that few House members have hideaway offices in the Capitol itself.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ staff accomplished the move, a representative of Pelosi’s office said.
In a statement to Politico, Pelosi criticized her forced departure as “a sharp departure from tradition,” claiming she had given former Speaker Dennis Hastert “a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished” when she assumed the post.
Pelosi has been in California to attend the funeral for the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.
The office shuffle that accompanied McCarthy’s ouster was one of many issues to resolve as Congress moves forward after the historic vote that toppled McCarthy.
Tuesday night, The Washington Post reported that McCarthy was seen leaving the speaker’s office carrying a box. McCarthy told GOP members of the House that he would not seek to regain the post, according to Politico.
Although the House had been scheduled to be in session to consider budget bills this week, Politico reported that the House would be in recess until next week.
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