House Democrats on Tuesday said they do not plan to save Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) when a vote on ousting him from the top spot hits the floor later in the day.
Emerging from a more than two-hour meeting in the Capitol, House Democrats said they will vote to oust McCarthy from the Speakership.
“We are following our leader and we are not saving Kevin McCarthy,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told reporters.
Asked if a decision was made as a caucus not to support McCarthy, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) responded, “yes.”
This news follows McCarthy’s statement that he won’t give Dems anything to save his Speakership.
He didn’t need them to vote for it. If he was willing to pass a bill that would be supported by the other Republicans and some Democrats, he could have kept his promise. He just didn’t want to upset the FreeDumb Caucus and risk losing his position as Speaker. Ultimately, he acquiesced and brought the promises bill to a vote at the final hour, but it was too late. All he managed to do was enrage the extremists in his party enough for them to bring a vote to oust him, while also showing the Democrats that his promises are worthless. If he brought the good bill up earlier, the Democrats might have voted to keep him as Speaker, but his actions killed the only shred of a hope for that.