WASHINGTON (AP) — “How would you be different as speaker, compared to Mr. Boehner?” a reporter asked then-House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy in September 2015 as the California Republican pursued, and eventually gave up, his first attempt at the speakership.
McCarthy laughed while standing next to outgoing Speaker John Boehner — who had just stepped down after facing a threat of removal — and joked that he was from a different generation and wouldn’t be as tan.
Eight years later, McCarthy is finding that there are fewer differences between them as he faces a conservative revolt against his speakership.
“If somebody wants to remove (me) because I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try,” McCarthy told reporters Saturday.
And his critics, namely Rep. Matt Gaetz, plan to do just that. On Monday, the far-right Republican from Florida threatened to use a procedural tool — called a motion to vacate — to try and strip McCarthy of his office sometime this week.
In a speech on the House floor, Gaetz demanded McCarthy disclose the details of a supposed deal with the White House to bring forward legislation to help fund the war in Ukraine after the speaker relied on Democrats to provide the necessary votes to fund the government.
“It is becoming increasingly clear who the speaker of the House already works for and it’s not the Republican Conference,” Gaetz said in his speech Monday.
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