House speaker chaos stuns lawmakers, frays relationships and roils Washington

By STEPHEN GROVES
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican California congressman Kevin McCarthy’s ouster from the speaker role has left the House of Representatives roiling. An essential body of American democracy no longer has an elected leader. Lawmakers were stunned Tuesday when a House speaker was voted out of leadership for the first time. The vacant speaker job comes as the House still grapples with the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, a Republican Party in upheaval and the United States’ contested role in global leadership. The House faces pressing questions of how to avert a government shutdown, whether to continue to fund Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion and whether to proceed with an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.