GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "NewsHour."
For the first time in this nation's history, the House of representatives has formally ousted its speaker.
A handful of hard-right Republicans and every Democrat voted together to remove the gavel from Speaker Kevin McCarthy's hand.
Lawmakers from both parties spoke on the House floor ahead of the final vote.
REP. MATT GAETZ: Chaos is Speaker McCarthy.
Chaos is somebody who we cannot trust with their word.
The one thing that the White House, House Democrats, and many of us on the conservative side of the Republican Caucus would argue is that the thing we have in common, Kevin McCarthy said something to all of us at one point or another that he didn't really mean and never intended to live up to.
REP. ANDY BIGGS (R-AZ): This body is entrenched in a suboptimal path and refuses to leave it, refuses to leave that path.
You cannot change if you are unwilling to change.
We had every opportunity to change.
We were promised change.
REP. BOB GOOD (R-VA): With the Democrats driving the fiscal bus off the cliff at 100 miles an hour, we cannot simply be content to be the party that slows it down to 95, just so we can sit in the front seat and where the captain's hat.
Our current debt and our spending trajectory is unsustainable.
We need a speaker, ideally somebody who st want to be speaker and hasn't pursued that at all costs for his entire adult life, who will meet the moment and do everything possible to fight for the country.
REP. TOM COLE (R-OK): We are proud of the leadership he has shown.
We are proud of the manner in which he has been willing to work with everybody in our conference and I believe in this chamber.
There is a second group, small group.
Honestly, they are willing to plunge this body into chaos and this country into uncertainty for reasons that only they really understand.
REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): I can tell you this motion to vacate is a terrible idea.
As the only member who's serving here who took every chance to vote against Speaker Boehner and to vote against Speaker Ryan, I can tell you that this chamber has run -- has been run better.
REP. KELLY ARMSTRONG (R-ND): It's been messy.
It's been raucous.
And, at times, it's been chaotic.
And God bless every minute of it, because democracy is supposed to be hard and because the alternative is a closed-door process where 2,000-page bills come out of the speaker's office at midnight and are forced to the floor the next morning.
GEOFF BENNETT: Today's move came nine months to the day since McCarthy lost his first vote to become speaker.
It ultimately took 14 more ballots for him to assume the role.
Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins has been watching all of this unfold on Capitol Hill.
So, Lisa, take us through this vote.
And tell us, what is the status of the House of Representatives right now without a House speaker?
LISA DESJARDINS: California Congressman Kevin McCarthy, as he is now being known, his long run basically of political gymnastics, aerial feats to try and survive in his own caucus day by day, that has ended tonight, as the House voted on that 216-210 vote to oust him.
The motion is an old one.
It's only ever come up for a vote once before in our nation's history.
It failed that time.
But the idea is that the House declared that the speakership itself was vacant.
Now, how this happened came down to two things, essentially, Geoff, the math and also the people involved, the small group determined to get rid of McCarthy.
Let's look at who we're talking about.
Eight Republicans united together to oust him.
Those eight, if you look at their faces, are mainly conservatives, with one exception there on the bottom row, Nancy Mace.
She's known as a moderate.
She's in a swing district.
She's a vulnerable Republican.
I spoke with her after this just on the steps of short while ago.
Why did she do this?
What did she think about the risk she is taking by putting the House in limbo, as it stands now?
And she said: "I feel like the House was in chaos with Kevin McCarthy.
He broke his promises."
She said he did not come through for women, for other things.
Another person on that list, Tim Burchett, he told me that he voted no on McCarthy for a number of reasons, including a matter of character, that just, in the last day, McCarthy made fun of his religion, his call for prayer.
So these -- this was personal, as well as political, for everyone on that list.
GEOFF BENNETT: And, Lisa, it's fair to say it had been a tumultuous nine months for Kevin McCarthy in the role of House speaker.
What is driving the apparent dysfunction within the House Republican Conference?
LISA DESJARDINS: As I said, the math is an issue.
It's just a slim five-vote majority that the Republicans have.
But that said, others, Democrats, have been able to govern with that.
Let's -- I really thought about, what is underneath this?
So let's look at the list.
First of all, as you heard in the tape from today, spending, that is driving a lot of these conservatives.
They feel like Kevin McCarthy has not gone far enough to cut spending, but also, underneath all of this, Geoff, is a clear distrust of Kevin McCarthy.
His relationships, his lack of relationships is really hurting him right now.
But, in addition to that, there's some other factors.
One of those, when you think about it, is the push for partisanship.
Some of those who wanted him out think that Kevin McCarthy should not have tried to work with Democrats to keep government open.
That's a factor in our government beyond Kevin McCarthy, and he's being punished for it right now.
The last thing I will say is, President Trump, who himself did call for a government shutdown, he has been someone who has really injected into the Republican Party the idea that not only is disruption safe, but it is good.
He has encouraged conservatives like this to try and challenge institutions, including the head of the institution of the House of Representatives itself.
One other thing.
Democrats, they had the option of saving Speaker McCarthy today, but, also, it comes down to relationships.
They said that he has attacked them, lied about them.
They came out of their meeting this morning, Geoff, very hot, saying: No way are we going to save him.
GEOFF BENNETT: You mentioned relationships, Lisa.
There is no obvious successor, someone that can unite the fractious Republican Party, this House Republican Conference.
What comes next?
The country is headed toward yet another government funding deadline on November 17.
What's this all mean for that?
LISA DESJARDINS: There's a lot to talk about here.
First, as I talk to you right now, the House does not have a permanent speaker of the House for the first time in our history, but it does have an acting speaker of the House.
That is Patrick McHenry, a McCarthy ally.
There is a little-known statute that came into place after September 11 in which speakers of the House must submit a list to the clerk -- it's kept secret -- of who they would like to succeed them in case something happens to them.
Patrick McHenry is the number one on the -- number one name on that list.
He is technically the acting speaker right now.
I'm told he is not in the line of presidential succession.
So what we have here, basically, Geoff, is a question mark.
How long will it take to get a speaker?
I'm told that McCarthy would like to run for speaker again.
So I think our viewers can imagine what we may be in for, a series of votes like we had in January, potentially, where McCarthy tries to convince some of those people who voted against him today to vote present, allow him somehow to win.
I will tell you, that's a long shot for him.
And you hit it right on the head, Geoff.
This is all a huge risk for so many parts of government, especially 45 days.
This does increase the risk exponentially of a shutdown.
But, also, it's a problem for Ukraine, for the money that Ukraine is waiting to get, hoping to get as it fights its war with Russia.
That's a problem then for Taiwan.
So the kind of domino effects of this situation are massive.
And I think we are going to be, obviously, following this, talking about this a lot.
So many things.
Impeachment is something rare, but we have never seen a vote like this in U.S. history.
GEOFF BENNETT: Absolutely.
Lisa Desjardins reporting from Capitol Hill tonight on the historic House vote that resulted in the ouster of Kevin McCarthy as House speaker.
Lisa, thank you.
LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sa7SZ6arn1%2BrtqWxzmifqK2jmnqltdWim56cXWaDeoKSbm9rbmFk