Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., announced Wednesday that he will resign from his congressional seat after being ousted as House speaker.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McCarthy made the announcement in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018No matter the odds, or personal cost, we did the right thing. That may seem out of fashion in Washington these days, but delivering results for the American people is still celebrated across the country. It is in this spirit that I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways. I know my work is only getting started,\u2019 McCarthy wrote. \u2018I will continue to recruit our country\u2019s best and brightest to run for elected office. The Republican Party is expanding every day, and I am committed to lending my experience to support the next generation of leaders.\u2019<\/p>\n
McCarthy surmised, \u2018It often seems that the more Washington does, the worse America gets. I started my career as a small-business owner, and I look forward to helping entrepreneurs and risk-takers reach their full potential. The challenges we face are more likely to be solved by innovation than legislation.\u2019<\/p>\n
He detailed that \u2018the most reliable solution to what ails America is before our eyes: everyday men and women who are raising families, showing up for work, volunteering, and pursuing the American Dream with passion and purpose. I agree with President Reagan\u2019s observation that \u2018all great change in America starts at the dinner table.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Despite the best attempts by special interest groups and the news media to divide us, I have seen the goodness of the American people. They are what will ultimately uphold the enduring values of our great nation. We all have a role to play in that effort,\u2019 McCarthy wrote. \u2018I never could have imagined the journey when I first threw my hat into the ring. I go knowing I left it all on the field \u2014 as always, with a smile on my face. And looking back, I wouldn\u2019t have had it any other way. Only in America.\u2019<\/p>\n
McCarthy started the op-ed by writing, \u2018I\u2019m an optimist. How could I not be?\u2019 He went on to detail how he\u2019s the son of a firefighter and served in the same congressional seat for the last 17 years, ironically from the same office in which he was previously denied an internship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McCarthy recalled how he helped Republicans to a House majority twice. \u2018We got more Republican women, veterans and minorities elected to Congress at one time than ever before,\u2019 he wrote. \u2018I remained cheerfully persistent when elected speaker because I knew what we could accomplish.\u2019<\/p>\n
Listing his accomplishments, he continued, \u2018Even with slim margins in the House, we passed legislation to secure the border, achieve energy independence, reduce crime, hold government accountable and establish a Parents\u2019 Bill of Rights. We did exactly what we said we would do.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018We kept our eyes on America\u2019s long-term global challenges by restoring the Intelligence Committee to its original charter and establishing a bipartisan Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party,\u2019 McCarthy wrote. \u2018We reduced the deficit by more than $2 trillion, revamped work requirements for adults on the sidelines, cut red tape for critical domestic energy projects, and protected the full faith and credit of the U.S. We kept our government operating and our troops paid while wars broke out around the world.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
McCarthy was the first House speaker to be voted out of the position in U.S. history.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With the departure of former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., and McCarthy, the House GOP margin goes down to just two at the end of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the start of 2024, the House will have 220 sitting Republicans and 213 Democrats, with two vacancies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A 218 majority is needed to pass legislation, meaning the GOP can only afford to lose two votes to pass a bill. If the GOP loses three votes, that legislative proposal will fail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has already set a special election for Santos\u2019 Third District on Feb. 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, also a Democrat, must announce a special election date within 14 days of McCarthy\u2019s exit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McCarthy will leave Congress two months after he was booted from his House speakership position after his top rival, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., orchestrated the rare vote on the obscure \u2018motion to vacate.\u2019 Though McCarthy maintained support from most Republicans in the House, eight GOP detractors ultimately ushered in his ouster in October, mainly taking issue with McCarthy for choosing to work with Democrats to temporarily delay a federal government shutdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the start of this year, Republicans held only a fragile margin in the chamber after a predicted \u2018red wave\u2019 failed to materialize in the 2022 elections.<\/p>\n
McCarthy endured a dayslong floor fight in January that eventually resulted in his ascension to the House\u2019s top job at a time when deep divisions within the GOP raised serious questions about the party\u2019s ability to govern following former President Donald Trump leaving office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It took a record 15 votes over four days for McCarthy to line up the support he needed to win the post he had long coveted, finally prevailing on a 216-212 vote with Democrats backing leader Hakeem Jeffries and six Republican holdouts voting present. Not since the Civil War era has a speaker\u2019s vote dragged through so many rounds of counting.<\/p>\n\n
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., announced Wednesday that he will resign from his congressional seat after being ousted as House speaker.\u00a0 McCarthy made the announcement in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal.\u00a0 \u2018No matter the odds, or personal cost, we did the right thing. That may seem out of fashion in Washington these days, <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":12603,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12602","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}