(PartiallyPolitics.com) – Criticism continues to mount over the debt ceiling deal that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and President Joe Biden reached with some conservatives even suggesting that the speaker should be removed.
On Monday night during a House Freedom Caucus call, Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., floated the idea of using the motion to vacate. This motion allows any House member to force a vote for the removal of the speaker. Buck, according to a source, referred to this possibility as the “elephant in the room.”
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., reportedly claimed that it might be too early for such a drastic measure to be taken, while Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., claimed that it could be used as a threat so that members of the House would be able to make amendments to the bill once it hits the House floor. Perry further noted that this issue needed to be discussed more after lawmakers returned to Washington following the long weekend.
A lawmaker who was on the call confirmed that Buck had indeed mentioned the possibility of using the motion to vacate. The source had added that there were people who believed that the Biden-McCarthy deal was a “complete miss.” They added that there were also those, approximately five others, who were “sympathetic to Buck’s position.”
Another lawmaker who was also on the call claimed to not have heard Buck make the suggestion and argued that “The unity we had is gone.”
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press NOW” on Tuesday afternoon Buck was asked about whether he had suggested McCarthy’s removal to which he said yes, but argued that he was not calling for McCarthy to be ousted.
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