OAN’s Brooke Mallory
2:55 PM – Tuesday, October 3, 2023
The House Clerk quickly announced that Representative Patrick McHenry will be taking over as the new Speaker after Kevin McCarthy was relieved of his duties in a historic House vote.
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All the authority of the elected speaker of the House is conferred upon the Speaker Pro Tempore.
When McCarthy was elected speaker in January, he personally chose McHenry (R-N.C.) for this position.
Following the events of September 11th, 2001, a procedure was developed to guarantee the continuation of government. The Pro Tempore is retained by the Clerk of the House until a Speaker is dismissed or rendered incapacitated.
This is also the first time a Speaker has ever been pushed out, with a temporary replacement process utilized.
McHenry was instrumental in brokering a compromise with several House Republican groups in January to give McCarthy the support he needed to become Speaker.
Additionally, he was a key player in McCarthy’s debt ceiling agreement with President Joe Biden, which some conservative members of the GOP conference criticized and used as justification for their campaign to have him removed from the speakership.
McHenry seemingly finds himself in an uncomfortable situation since he has been a long-time ally of McCarthy. McHenry recessed the House as his first move as acting Speaker to allow conferences to convene and make plans for the future.
The North Carolinian is accustomed to having urgent appointments, although ones that are not nearly as serious. After now-Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was involved in a shooting in a GOP baseball practice in Virginia in 2017, he took over as deputy GOP whip.
In the 10th Congressional district of North Carolina, McHenry is now serving his tenth term.
He was initially elected to Congress in 2004 and currently serves as the committee’s chair for financial services.
McHenry also worked on George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign before being chosen to represent North Carolina in the House in 2002. In 2001, he was appointed as the Secretary of Labor’s special assistant.
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