Republican Kevin McCarthy was toppled Tuesday as US House speaker by dissidents within his own party, ending his tumultuous nine months in the job and sending a fractious Congress into further disarray.
The 58-year-old veteran California politician, who navigated treacherous political cross-currents to avert a US debt default earlier this year and an Oct. 1 government shutdown, now becomes the first US House speaker removed from his job.
The 216 to 210 vote raises fresh questions about dysfunction in Washington. Moody’s Investors Service, the only remaining major credit grader to give the US a top rating, warned in late September its confidence in the US is wavering because of concerns about “governance.”
Read the full story on Bloomberg here.