(The Center Square) – All of Missouri’s Republican congressmen voted on Tuesday to keep Kevin McCarthy as speaker and criticized eight GOP members who joined Democrats to reject him.
“House Democrats, in collusion with eight Republicans, pushed to oust a Republican Speaker of the House who won a conference election to be the Republican nominee for speaker and has overwhelming support among his Republican colleagues and a record of delivering for the American people,” Rep. Jason Smith, representing Missouri’s 8th Congressional District and the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement. “This decision is particularly abhorrent given the conservative victories that have been achieved this year under Speaker McCarthy – including the largest spending cut in the history of our nation alongside the biggest reforms to America’s welfare system in two decades signed into law.”
Eight Republicans joined all Democrats in the House in voting 216-210 to remove McCarthy as speaker. It marked the first time the House voted to remove a speaker.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat who represents Missouri’s 5th District in the Kansas City area, said McCarthy’s lack of bipartisan approaches wasn’t comparable to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“Since the opening of the 118th Congress, Kevin McCarthy has actively opposed bipartisanship in the People’s House, fomented chaos and crises by kowtowing to the most extreme members of his caucus, and failed to follow through on the most basic of bipartisan agreements time and time again,” Cleaver said in a statement. “The American people deserve leaders that will put families before political theater and partisan brinksmanship – which is something Speaker McCarthy has proven incapable of doing. I could not in good conscience support such an individual for the esteemed position of Speaker.”
Cori Bush, representing Missouri’s 1st District in the St. Louis area, was one of four Democrats and three Republicans not present for the vote.
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, a Republican representing Missouri’s 3rd District, highlighted how McCarthy led 198 GOP members in cutting non-defense spending by 30% and increased border security.
“Today, some of the same ‘Republicans’ again joined Democrats to remove Speaker McCarthy from his post,” Luetkemeyer said in a statement. “Because of their actions, the investigations of President Biden and his family have stopped. So has the appropriations process they claim to support. When you regularly vote with Democrats to block spending cuts, harm border security, and protect President Biden from investigations, you’re not a Republican.”
