Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar oddly licked her lips as Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz spoke on the House floor and advocated for the ousting of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday.
Gaetz filed a motion to vacate Monday night after McCarthy struck a deal with President Joe Biden to fund the government shortly before the expiration of the 2023 fiscal year. Omar repeatedly licked her lips for nine seconds while Gaetz spoke in favor of ousting McCarthy.
Hey, @IlhanMN you need to chill.
You’re looking at @MattGaetz like he’s your brother or something…
Licking your lips and all. Good God! 😳
Your husband is going to be big mad. pic.twitter.com/DP4G8BJiMF
— Joey Mannarino (@JoeyMannarinoUS) October 3, 2023
The House removed McCarthy as speaker with a 216-210 vote. Eight Republicans joined in the effort to oust the speaker. Republican Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale became the eighth Republican to vote in favor of the vacancy.
Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace also voted to remove McCarthy from his seat one day after telling “The View” he did not live up to several promises. (RELATED: Rep. Matt Gaetz Announces Plans To Oust Speaker McCarthy)
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat, urged his party to oppose McCarthy’s speakership in a letter to his Democratic colleagues. With Republicans having a narrow majority in the House, Democrats were largely the deciding factor on the fate of McCarthy’s leadership.
It took McCarthy fifteen rounds of ballots to assume the gavel in January.
McCarthy accepted Gaetz’s challenge to file the motion during a Sunday interview with “Face the Nation” and accused the Florida representative of attempting to oust him for “personal” reasons.
“This is personal with Matt. Matt voted against the most conservative ability to protect our border, secure our border,” McCarthy said on “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “He’s more interested in securing TV interviews than doing something. Like he wanted to push us into a shutdown, even threatening his own district with all the military people there who would not be paid only because he wants to take this motion. So be it. Bring it on. Let’s get over with it, and let’s start governing. If he’s upset because he tried to push us into a shutdown, and I made sure government didn’t shut down, then let’s have that fight.”