MTG, Thomas Massie back Kevin McCarthy after Matt Gaetz's motion to vacate the Speaker

Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie both spoke out to oppose the motion brought by Florida's Matt Gaetz on Monday to vacate House Speaker McCarthy from the office.

Gaetz posted "Some of my wonderful conservative friends won’t be voting to #VacateMcCarthy They worry it might disrupt legislative business. I would remind them that the full scope of legislative work on the floor yesterday was…… Renaming 2 Post Offices."

In response, Greene said "I agree with you we need serious change, but there is no plan and no one capable even stepping up. Last time freedom caucus threw out a Speaker, we ended up with Paul Ryan who did not support President Trump’s agenda. Nothing can truly change until Trump is back in the WH."

Massie had a similar take, saying that the issues facing the House would only be compounded if McCarthy were vacated. "From my perspective, the House has been functioning better, more transparently, and more conservatively, with Speaker McCarthy than it did with Speaker Boehner or Speaker Ryan. We have issues, but replacing Speaker McCarthy won’t magically fix them. In fact, it could get worse," he said.

"Some are asking how could it get worse. Here’s one bad scenario: In the new Speaker election, a candidate wins not by getting 218 Republican votes but instead by getting some Democrat votes in exchange for letting their bad bills come to the floor or otherwise sharing power."

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz brought a motion to vacate House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from leadership on Monday evening. This, after McCarthy worked with Democrats to pass a 45-day stop gap measure to keep the government running. Gaetz, and others, were anticipating a government shut down as a means to hold the budget hostage until they got the provisions they were looking for, namely an end to Ukraine funding and a means to secure the US border.

"Mr Speaker," Gaetz told Congress, "Pursuant to Rule 2(a)(1) of Rule 9 I rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges of the House." He stated the resolution: "Declaring the office of the Speaker of the House to be vacant. Resolved that the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives to be vacant."

Speaking about the motion outside of Congress, Gaetz complained about the 45-day stop gap measure, saying "You don't know chaos until you've seen where this Congress and this uniparty is bringing us."

In response, McCarthy replied "Bring it on."