Rep. Biggs Predicts McCarthy Will ‘Probably’ Survive the Vote to Oust Him as Speaker

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) testifies at a House hearing in front of the Committee on Oversight and Reform in Washington on July 12, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) said he would support the motion to vacate House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his position, though he thinks the top Republican could “probably” survive the vote.

Mr. Biggs’s comments came shortly before Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) moved forward on Monday night to introduce a motion to remove Mr. McCarthy from his post. The hard-line Republican has repeatedly warned of ousting Mr. McCarthy from his office if concerns about specific items of government overspending were not acknowledged.

The confrontation escalated during the weekend after Mr. McCarthy teamed up with Democrats to push a stopgap funding bill through the House. Mr. Gaetz declared during multiple interviews on Sunday that he intended to pursue such a plan by filing a “motion to vacate” this week.

As part of the efforts to secure the speaker’s chair, Mr. McCarthy lowered the threshold to file such a motion to one person, but to have it succeed needs a simple majority vote. It means Mr. Gaetz would need 218 votes if all 434 members participate in the vote.

Mr. Biggs, who had voiced his opposition to Mr. McCarthy’s speaker bid since last November, said Mr. Gaetz’s effort may fail.

“I believe that when you’re going to try to land to big fish, you should get this hook really set deep and make sure it’s set,” Mr. Biggs, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said during an interview with “Just the News, No Noise” television show on Monday. “I’m not sure that it is set.

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“I am deeply and profoundly unhappy with our leadership that we’ve seen from Speaker McCarthy,” he said. But “I do think that Speaker McCarthy probably survives this.”

“I personally will be voting to vacate,” Mr. Biggs said, stressing his dissatisfaction with Mr. Marcthy’s handling of the government budget.

“We were supposed to get this done by June 15. We were promised we'd get it done. And we didn’t get it done,” he said. “And even the one bill we got done in July, they didn’t ever transmit to the Senate.

“About a year ago, when we were talking about these types of things, in December, in January, I predicted that this would happen.

“I said that his history, Mr. Speaker’s history, was that he would make deals with the Democrats,” he said. “He made a deal with the Democrats; every Democrat voted for that [continuing resolution] that he put up last weekend. And that’s because the Republicans who want to reduce spending, we’re left with no place else to go.”

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks to reporters as he leaves a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 14, 2023. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Mr. McCarthy said the House of Representatives will vote later on Tuesday on the motion.

If every one of the House presented and cast the ballot, the narrow 222–213 majority meant Mr. McCarthy could only afford to lose up to five votes from his caucus.

Aside from Mr. Biggs, Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), and Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) have signaled that they would support Mr. Gaetz’s motion.

If successful, it would be the first time in U.S. history that House lawmakers voted their leader out.

“I’m confident I'll hold on,” Mr. McCarthy told reporters.

Reuters contributed to this report.