The U.S. House of Representatives voted Oct. 3 to remove Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from his position as Speaker of the House.
The “motion to vacate” was called by a fellow Republican, Matt Gaetz (R-FL), after McCarthy pushed through a bipartisan bill to fund the government through Nov. 17, postponing a potential government shutdown.
Wisconsin Democratic representatives Gwen Moore (WI-04) and Mark Pocan (WI-02) voted in favor of the motion. The six Republican representatives from Wisconsin voted against it.
Republican Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (WI-05) represents Milwaukee’s northwestern suburbs and expressed his disappointment with the removal of McCarthy as speaker in a press release, stating the Republican-led House passed “critically needed legislation” under McCarthy’s gavel, and opposes the Biden Administration’s “toxic policies.”
According to University of Wisconsin political science professor and director of the UW Elections Research Center Barry Burden, the change in House leadership will not immediately affect Wisconsinites.
But, many federal programs are still at risk if the current budget expires later this fall, and without an elected leader of the House, avoiding a government shutdown becomes more complex, Burden said.
“A shutdown could hold up federal funding coming to the state of Wisconsin for infrastructure, health care services, and other programs,” Burden said in an email statement to The Badger Herald. “It would also put many federal employees in Wisconsin on furlough and make a number of federal offices unavailable to Wisconsin residents.”
The state of Wisconsin has over 14,000 federal civilian employees, according to the US Office of Personnel Management. These employees would lose pay until the government reopens or be forced to find other work. Medicare, Social Security and food assistance would have a reduced staff, limiting the ability of these services to provide government support to the public.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (WI-08) represents northeastern Wisconsin and voted in favor of the bipartisan budget resolution on Sept. 29, helping the government avoid a shutdown. After the vote, Gallagher issued a video statement explaining his rationale behind the vote.
In the video, Gallagher blamed the Republican caucus’ inability to pass their original budget bill and urged fellow members to take advantage of the next 45 days to create a reformed budget with full support of house republicans, including the far-right conservatives who voted to oust McCarthy.
The budget reform that McCarthy was removed from the speakership for passing was supported by Wisconsin’s two democratic representatives and four Wisconsin republicans, excluding Reps. Fizgerald and Van Orden, though they voted to save the speaker in the “motion to vacate.”
“I will not dwell further on the motion to vacate,” Fitzgerald said in a press release. “My focus is now 100% on electing another Republican Speaker to continue our oversight responsibilities and lead our conference to more wins for the American people.”
