House GOP to hold speaker forum today as McCarthy mulls return: Live

House Rules Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) told Politico that the GOP no longer has to abide by a previous spending deal cutting back appropriations made last June with far-right members of its caucus.

“This agreement was faulty from the beginning. It’s changed over time, and now in a sense, it doesn’t exist at all because McCarthy isn’t the speaker anymore,” Mr Cole said. “So we’re not really bound by this agreement now. That will be an interesting thing the new speaker will have to hash out.”

The Lincoln Project shared a mocking video of Republicans blasting their own party members for removing Kevin McCarthy from the speakership.

“What do you think his Speaker tombstone should read?” the Lincoln Project wrote on X.

Rep Brendan Boyle (D-PA) introduced a resolution which would require a speaker of the House to be a member of the chamber, a move that would block former President Donald Trump from assuming the role.

H.Res.761 would amend “the Rules of the House of Representatives to limit the eligibility for nomination to serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives to Members and Members-elect of the House”.

The resolution was introduced on Friday.

Rep Jason Crow (D-CO) wrote on X on Monday that the “Republicans must call House back into session immediately. Our national security can’t wait”.

Alexander Vindman, one of the top witnesses in Donald Trump’s first impeachment, wrote on X on Monday that “the disarray in US politics & the chaos wrought in our government, a nonfunctioning Congress with no speaker & hundreds of military promotions on hold resulting in inadequate staffing in many critical commands, has invited our enemy’s aggression”.

“MAGA & GOP are complicit!” he added.

As he runs for House speaker, Republicans appear eager to ignore that. Yet by embracing Jordan they tie themselves further to that attack on democracy and the Constitution.

Jordan was an early and enthusiastic recruit in Trump’s war on the republic and reality—in public and in private.

Ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy didn’t rule out returning to the role atop House leadership if enough members of his party would be willing to back his comeback.

Appearing on Hugh Hewitt’s radio programme on Monday, Mr McCarthy said, “Whatever the conference wants, I will do”.

At the press conference shortly after his removal on Tuesday, Mr McCarthy said: “I will not run for speaker again. I’ll have the conference pick somebody else.”

But as it’s unclear if anyone will be able to reach the required 218 votes, Mr Hewitt asked Mr McCarthy if he would put his name back in contention to break a deadlock.

“Look, the conference has to make that decision,” Mr McCarthy said.

South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace endorsed Rep Jim Jordan to become the new House speaker, echoing former President Donald Trump in advocating for the Ohio Republican to replace Kevin McCarthy.

“I am going to be supporting Jim Jordan for speaker,” the South Carolina Republican said on Face the Nation on Sunday.

She applauded Mr Jordan’s “work ethic” and “his ability to just run circles around everyone with regards to policy and pushing forward.”

“We’ve been one of the least productive Congresses inside of 30 years and he’s going to be a workhorse for our country,” she added.

“I want a speaker who will keep their word and who will get the job done,” Rep Mace said. She was one of only eight Republicans to vote to oust Mr McCarthy from his post last week in a historic vote. Since the vote, Ms Mace said she’s being “threatened” by her Republican colleagues to be removed from committees and the conference.

Matt Gaetz says he isn’t worried about challenges from within his own party after successfully leading the ousting of Kevin McCarthy from his speakership role last week.

The Republican congressman and longtime close ally of Donald Trump was on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday after he successfully led seven other Republicans in voting to kick Mr McCarthy out of his job on Tuesday. Doing so made Mr McCarthy one of the shortest-serving House speakers in history and paralysed the lower chamber of Congress until a new speaker can be elected.

It also cemented Mr McCarthy’s reputation as one of the weakest speakers in memory, given that he was unable to convince a single Democrat to vote in favour of saving him; despite outreach from moderates, the Democratic caucus felt insulted by the former speaker’s efforts to falsely blame their party for a government shutdown that had only been averted when their party voted to help Mr McCarthy pass a funding resolution which the majority of his own caucus opposed.

Mr Gaetz told NBC’s Kristin Welker on Sunday that removing Mr McCarthty, in his mind, was “absolutely” worth being ousted from his seat through expulsion or a primary challenge. Both have been openly threatened by other members of his caucus, allies of Mr McCarthy, in the past week.

“They want to expel me from Congress? That’s crazy,” he told Ms Welker.

When asked on ABC’s “This Week” about some Republicans calling for Mr Trump to become the next speaker, Mr Buck said “that’s not going to happen”.

“It shouldn’t happen, and we have a lot of talent inside the House,” he said.

“We’ll settle this inside the House Republican conference, and we will elect someone who’ll have the unity and the backing of the full conference.”