Republican House Speaker McCarthy faces ouster threat for avoiding shutdown

Hardline Repubs target McCarthy's role as Speaker after he averts costly shutdown w/ bipartisan bill.

Top U.S. House Republican Kevin McCarthy could face an untimely end to his role as speaker if party hardliners oust him, for averting a costly government shutdown on Saturday with a stopgap bill that drew more support from Democrats than Republicans.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted 335-91 to adopt a 45-day stopgap measure hours before funding for federal agencies was set to expire. The Democratic-led Senate later approved the same bill with bipartisan support and sent it to President Joe Biden to sign into law.

But soon after the House action, hardline Republican conservatives began targeting McCarthy's role as speaker, claiming he had scored a victory for the "Uniparty" of Washington.

"Should he remain Speaker of the House?" Republican Representative Andy Biggs, a leading hardliner, asked on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

McCarthy decided to bring a vote on a measure that could win Democratic support, knowing full well that it could jeopardize his job. One of his advisers told Reuters the speaker believed some hardliners would try to oust him under any circumstances.

"Go ahead and try," McCarthy said in comments directed at his opponents on Saturday. "You know what? If I have to risk my job for standing up for the American public, I will do that."

The bipartisan measure succeeded a day after Biggs and 20 other hardliners blocked a Republican stopgap bill that contained sharp spending cuts and immigration and border restrictions, all of which hardliners favor.