The House Freedom Caucus is putting pressure on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to force House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., out of her leadership post using a procedural motion, Politico reports.
“We, the House Freedom Caucus, respectfully request that you pursue the authorization of the House Republican Conference, pursuant to Conference rules, to file and bring up a privileged motion by July 31, 2021, to vacate the chair and end Nancy Pelosi’s authoritarian reign as Speaker of the House,” the conservative group wrote in a letter to McCarthy on Friday.
“Rule IX, Clause 3 of the Rules of the House of Representatives for the One Hundred Seventeenth Congress requires that ‘A resolution causing a vacancy in the Office of Speaker shall not be privileged except if offered by direction of a party caucus or conference,’” they continued.
The caucus goes on to point to Pelosi’s “allowing proxy voting” and installing “insulting security measures like metal detectors” following the violent protest at the Capitol last January.
“Speaker Pelosi’s tenure is destroying the House of Representatives and our ability to faithfully represent the people we are here to serve. Speaker Pelosi has championed unconstitutional changes like allowing proxy voting and insulting security measures like metal detectors for Members coming to the floor to vote,” the letter reads.
“Less easily reversible is the damage done to the institution by the Leadership of one party dictating the ability of Members of another party to serve in roles at the discretion of their own conference. That abuse cannot go unchecked. Speaker Pelosi’s refusal to seat Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Jim Banks on the Select Committee to Investigate January 6 is intolerable.
“That this follows the intolerable action of unseating another Republican from her committees makes clear that Speaker Pelosi has no interest in representative democracy, let alone protecting institutional norms. Republicans, under your leadership, must show the American people that we will act to protect our ability to represent their interests,” they wrote.
We reached out to McCarthy and Pelosi spokespersons but they did not respond immediately.
