Kevin McCarthy dares Matt Gaetz to try to force him out of House speaker job

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave a fiery rebuke Thursday to Rep. Matt Gaetz and dared the rebellious Republican to try and oust him.

Mr. Gaetz threatened floor action to remove Mr. McCarthy as speaker. He said Mr. McCarthy was “out of compliance” with conservatives’ demands because he was pushing a stopgap spending measure to prevent a Sept. 30 government shutdown.

“If you think you scare me because you want to file a motion to vacate, move the f—-ing motion,” Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, told lawmakers during a closed-door GOP conference meeting.

Mr. Gaetz regularly has promised to bring a motion to vacate if Mr. McCarthy does not adhere to the deal that gave him the gavel, including putting terms limits and a budget amendment up for a vote, for not releasing the unadulterated Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot tapes and for not subpoenaing presidential son Hunter Biden.

He said Mr. McCarthy isn’t fulfilling the agreement he made with Freedom Caucus members in January to get the votes needed to become speaker.

Mr. McCarthy’s opening of an impeachment inquiry into President Biden was not enough to satisfy Mr. Gaetz. 

“Speaker McCarthy is in control of his own fate here,” Mr. Gaetz told the Washington Times. “He has to come into immediate total compliance with our agreement from January. If he does that, there won’t be a motion to vacate. If he refuses — and has these rattled, unhinged, emotional, profane outbursts — we’ll probably be having daily motions to vacate.”

The speaker said Mr. Gaetz’s main issue with him was not about not sticking with his word, but rather an ethics complaint against the Florida lawmaker. He said the Florida congressman had asked for help with the complaint and added he would not “interject into an independent committee like ethics.” 

Mr. Gaetz balked at the notion, calling Mr. McCarthy a “sad, pathetic man.”  

Mr. Gaetz’s proposal doesn’t have 100% support from fellow members of the House Freedom Caucus.

The arch-conservatives are locked in a standoff with Mr. McCarthy over spending and his effort to pass a stopgap bill to keep the government open past the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline.

But Rep. Ralph Norman, a Freedom Caucus member from South Carolina, said that the speaker has “done some good things” like launching the impeachment inquiry even if he falls short of cutting spending.

“I’m not down on him,” Mr. Norman told reporters. “Has he violated the spending? Yes.”

Rep. Clay Higgins, Louisiana Republican, told The Times that he supports Mr. McCarthy. He said that differences in opinion are to be expected but that shouldn’t lead to removing the speaker.

“I would advise my colleagues whom I deeply respect to be very cautious about pulling the trigger on [a] motion to vacate,” he said. “Our duty and our oath is to the citizenry, and democracy can be very messy.” 

Rep. Brian Mast, Florida Republican, said after the meeting that Mr. McCarthy “doesn’t live in fear of” the motion to vacate. 

“If somebody wants to file a motion to vacate, file … to vacate and that’s it, and stop holding up everybody’s work,” Mr. Mast told reporters. “Stop holding it over people’s heads like it’s this noose that you’re going to try to get somebody to walk into.”

• Kerry Picket contributed to this report.