After the ousting of Kevin McCarthy, the rise of Mike Johnson as the new Speaker of the House of Representatives has raised financial uncertainty among Republicans due to the decision to oust Kevin McCarthy.

On October 3rd, 2023, Kevin McCarthy was ousted from his position as the Speaker of the House of Representatives when Democrats sided with a handful of Republicans in a historically unprecedented move.

Kevin McCarthy was supported by most of the Republicans but was voted out in a 216-210 vote, with eight Republicans siding with Democrats to remove him as the Speaker.

Interestingly, the move to remove McCarthy as the Speaker of the House was heralded by a fellow Republican.

Matt Gaetz, a Republican representative of the House from Florida, criticized and motioned to vacate McCarthy as the Speaker of the House during the October 3rd proceeding.

Gaetz turned against McCarthy for negotiating with President Joe Biden and Democrats to prevent a partial government shutdown, which, according to Gaetz, opposes conservative values.

Many Republican members of the House, including Matt Gaetz, Bob Good, and Nancy Mace, have criticized McCarthy for ‘not doing anything significant’ and turning back on his promises to fellow Republicans.

Democrats also criticized him for being ‘untrustworthy’ while Republicans criticized him for working with the Democrats to keep the federal government open rather than shutting it down.

Kevin McCarthy was ultimately ousted for preventing the federal government from shutting down when he decided to negotiate with the Democrats of the House for a temporary funding bill, which included $16 billion of federal disaster assistance as per President Biden's request.

After the ousting of Kevin McCarthy, Mike Johnson replaced McCarthy as the new Speaker of the House, raising criticism and worries from members of Congress and lawmakers.

Compared to Kevin McCarthy, Mike Johnson is a little-known congressman and lacks political fundraising skills, one of the key duties of the Speaker of the House.

Kevin McCarthy’s political operations brought in 100 times more money than what Mike Johnson has collected so far in 2023.

According to federal and public records, Johnson raised a total of 6.1 million dollars in his entire congressional career starting from 2016, less than McCarthy’s average monthly gain in 2023.

Much of the criticism and worries about the ousting of McCarthy as the Speaker of the House is grounded on the fact that he raised around 10 to 25 percent of all the campaign money raised in 2023, significantly contributing to the Republican House's main Political Action Committee (PAC).

Coupled with the successful ousting of the Speaker of the House, which is uncharted territory for U.S. politics, the decision to replace Kevin McCarthy with Mike Johnson is resulting in chaos not just among the Republicans in the House of Representatives but also among the entire country.

The only other times when there were attempts to oust the Speaker of the House were in the past in 1910 and 2015, with both attempts ultimately failing.

In 1910, Republican House Speaker Joe Cannon was nearly ousted by his fellow Republican members when there was a motion to vacate him, but it ultimately failed when there were not enough votes.

More recently, in 2015, Republican representative Mark Meadows tried to remove Republican House Speaker John Boehner, but the motion to remove him was eventually dropped.

With Kevin McCarthy as the first successful ousting of the Speaker of the House in U.S. history, America has no reference to preparing for this newly confronted issue.

As the temporary funding bill passed by McCarthy and Democrats that kept the government running until November 17th before another government shutdown reached its deadline, Mike Johnson was able to draft a new funding bill that pushed the deadline to September 2024.

Over the next year, Mike Johnson’s abilities as the Speaker of the House will be tested with a plethora of concerns regarding his financial capabilities on his shoulders.

Because government shutdowns lead to several governmental services such as schools, malls, public transportation, etc, uncertainties surrounding Mike Johnson as the first Speaker to be elected after a historic ousting of the previous Speaker is not just a political problem; it’s an American concern.

Matthew Park

Grade 9

Seoul International School