US debt ceiling

USA:s skuldtak

 

 

Kevin McCarthy. J. Scott Applewhite / AP

   

US debt ceiling

McCarthy ousted in historic vote - first ever to be ousted from office  

 

Republican Kevin McCarthy is being pushed from the Speaker's post in the House of Representatives after a historic vote. He is deposed on the initiative of party colleague Matt Gaetz, who belongs to the party's right-wing phalanx, and who in the vote won the support of several others in the party. 

 

Such an initiative has not been attempted in more than 100 years and has never before succeeded. 

 

216 voted to impeach McCarthy while 210 voted against. Seven Republicans, including Gaetz, voted to impeach the speaker.  

 

The same number of members were absent, writes NBC. Kevin McCarthy, file photo. Andrew Harnik/AP  

 

A vote awaits – the situation is getting tougher for McCarthy  

 

A vote on Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy will be held on Tuesday, US media reports.  

 

This after Matt Gaetz, who belongs to a right-wing phalanx within the party, started a process in the hope of getting McCarthy deposed. Gaetz has accused him of doing "Democrat business," 

 

including the temporary budget solution reached this weekend to avoid a government shutdown. The Democrats' minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, has announced during the day that the party has no intention of "saving" McCarthy.  

 

The Republicans have 221 seats while the Democrats have 212. Five Republicans have already made it clear that they want to remove McCarthy, which means that he needs to rely on votes from the Democrats if he is to keep the role, writes CNN.  

 

The vote is expected to start at 20:00 Swedish time, according to NBC.