Pictured are minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives Hakeem Jeffries , a New York Democrat and the first Black to hold the post and to lead a political party in Congress, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who was ousted from his speaker's post on Tuesday
- By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief
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- WASHINGTON, D.C- Democratic and Republican lawmakers on Tuesday removed controversial House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his prestigious post , just days after Congress, on Saturday evening, passed a stopgap funding bill that averted a looming government shutdown ahead of a midnight deadline.
- Whether McCarthy, a Republican, can gain the support needed to win back his post and exactly who, if anybody, will replace him as the powerful Speaker are questions that remain unanswered.
What happens next is anybody's guess relative to McCarthy and pending funding bills left unaddressed as Congress-members try to juggle their schedules and change previous commitments after being told to be on call.- The House vote to oust McCarthy was 216-200, with eight Republicans and all Democrats voting yes. Had just four congressional Democrats supported him, he would have beat the ouster attempt.
- After weeks of political wranglings and divisiveness among Democratic and Republican lawmakers, Congress passed a stopgap funding bill Saturday evening and President Joe Biden signed the new law into effect late Saturday night
- In a statement, the president, who is up for reelection in 2024, said the stopgap bill was “good news for the American people.” “But I want to be clear: we should never have been in this position in the first place. "
- "Just a few months ago, Speaker McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement to avoid precisely this type of manufactured crisis,” he said.
- The Senate approved the stopgap measure after the House abruptly reversed course earlier in the day and passed the bipartisan deal that cost McCarthy his Speaker's seat, McCarthy telling reporters prior to his ouster so what and that "Americans come first."
- Among a host of other congressional naysayers relative to the funding legislation, controversial GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, who tendered the congressional motion to oust MCcarthy, told CNN Sunday that he' would work hard to remove the Speaker from his leadership role this week, and he did just that.
- House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black to hold such a leadership post with House Democrats, was no help either. He told House Democrats to vote against McCarthy, after the then Speaker blamed the now tabled government shutdown on House Democrats alone.
- The stopgap bill, which funds the federal government until mid November, includes natural disaster aid, but funding for Ukraine, a sticking point for many congressional lawmakers across partisan lines who balked at various funding bills, did not make the cut. It is expected to be voted on in coming weeks, absent a political stalemate.
- Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.