KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — On Tuesday, lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives voted to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy following a vote temporarily averting a government shutdown for 45 days.
The next steps are uncertain, but there is no obvious successor to lead the House Republican majority. A top McCarthy ally, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) took the gavel and, according to House rules, was named speaker pro tempore, to serve in the office until a new speaker is chosen.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) were the only lawmakers from Tennessee to vote for ousting McCarthy. Burchett said he had grievances against McCarthy after he felt the former Speaker "belittled" his religious beliefs.
"You know, I said I'd be praying about it, and he said something that I thought belittled the way I think. You know, I'm a Christian. I'm not trying to save any of y'alls souls, or anything. I pray about everything, I pray for y'all. When somebody's hurting, even my enemies, I pray for the president that he's healthy, and I was on maybe CNN or something last night, and I said I was praying about it. I went down two paths on this thing, and I said that I was afraid I would lose a friend in Kevin McCarthy, which I'm sure I have. And I said, 'That or my conscience,' and I was praying about the right answer, and I said that last night. And I was going to listen to him, I honestly was going to listen to him, I'm not lying to y'all," Burchett said. "That kind of sealed it with me, that shows where his heart's at. That showed his character."
Burchett said he wanted the House to act quicker before approaching any budget deadline and risking a government shutdown. He said before the deadline approached, lawmakers spent six weeks away from office.
He also said he would want to see Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Kevin Hern (R-OK), Mark Green (R-TN) or Steve Scalise (R-LA) on the bench instead of McCarthy. Burchett said Scalise would have his vote should he be on the ballot.
"Democracy works. It's not always pretty, but we needed to make a change," Burchett said. "I think we'll rally around the new speaker. I suspect it won't go 15 rounds."
Next, Burchett said lawmakers would go into conference meetings following the decision to oust the speaker. He also said he could have changed his mind about voting to oust McCarthy leading up to Tuesday's session.
"The first thing out of his mouth was something about me praying about it, and I just thought, 'You know, that's not cool.' I mean, I pray through a lot of things," Burchett said. "We pray a lot in my family."
Burchett also said he doesn't expect to directly address his concerns about the process behind the U.S. government's budget immediately after taking the role. But, he said he would want the new speaker to take some action soon after taking the role.
"Tanks aren't rolling in the streets. We're going to get our act together and we're going to do what we said we were going to do. Because we had some folks in power, in my opinion, that weren't doing what they promised and when you break your promise to the American people, this Congress will hold them accountable," Burchett said.