“For a century prior to 2015, no member had attempted to remove a speaker from office by offering a ‘motion to vacate the chair.’ Then conservative hardliners used the arcane procedure to help oust former Speaker John Boehner, and nothing has ever been the same,” Punchbowl News reports.
“Speaker Paul Ryan, Boehner’s successor, always faced the threat of such a motion being filed if he alienated hardliners. Any single member could do so and get a vote. When Speaker Nancy Pelosi took office, she changed the rule so that only a party leader could do it at the behest of a majority of their lawmakers.”
“But 21 days before the election of the next speaker, it’s becoming ever more clear that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy may have to restore the motion to vacate to the old standard if he wants to be speaker.”
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