The morning after Congress narrowly avoided another government shutdown, as Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz announced plans to try to take down then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Fox News ran a report that raised a few eyebrows.
According to the network, an unidentified number of GOP members were “preparing a motion to expel” the far-right Floridian. Fox’s report didn’t include any on-the-record comments, and it wasn’t independently verified by other news organizations, but it raised the prospect of a provocative move against a member with a dwindling number of friends.
That was the news on Sunday. It’s fair to say the chatter has since grown quite a bit louder. The Washington Post reported overnight:
Gaetz’s successful fight to remove McCarthy from the speakership has cost him in his own conference, lawmakers say. The GOP on Tuesday was considering expelling Gaetz from its caucus. … “I’d love to have him out of the conference,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told reporters Tuesday.
Similarly, Republican Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota also told CNN that he expects to see a resolution to expel Gaetz from the GOP conference, though he didn’t specify when.
It’s worth clarifying that there are two kinds of possible efforts. One is a vote to kick Gaetz out of Congress, which would require a two-thirds majority. The other is a vote to kick Gaetz out of the House Republican conference, which would remove Democrats from the equation.
As for what the Floridian’s opponents would use as a vehicle to move against him, there’s an obvious answer, which The New York Times highlighted:
Representative Matt Gaetz’s successful push to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy has cemented his status as one of the most reviled members of the House of Representatives — including among many of his fellow Republicans — and drawn attention to a long-running investigation by the House Ethics Committee into Mr. Gaetz’s conduct.
Longtime readers might recall that the Ethics Committee launched its probe into Gaetz two years ago, and by all accounts, the investigation appears to be near its end. It’s difficult to speculate as to what, if anything, the panel will conclude, but for those hoping to move against Gaetz, this offers an opportunity. That said, the controversial lawmaker is not without some support in the Republican conference: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia issued a statement on Sunday that warned that any GOP-led effort against Gaetz “absolutely will not be tolerated by Republicans across the country. I can guarantee you that.” Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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