Interim House speaker’s first order is to boot Nancy Pelosi out of Capitol office
The sun had barely set on Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s historic ouster from the speakership Tuesday when his temporary replacement issued his first orders: boot Rep. Nancy Pelosi out of her honorary Capitol office.
A source familiar with Pelosi’s staff confirmed that officials on Tuesday night began moving her things out of the hideaway office — a small secondary office to retire to in between business on the House floor.
Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), a close ally of McCarthy, is filling in as speaker and booted Pelosi out of the privileged office space just hours after a House vote that pushed McCarthy, Pelosi’s successor, from his role.
Pelosi maintains her large primary office in another building of the Capitol complex.
Hard-line Republicans joined with Democrats to remove the Bakersfield Republican from the speaker’s chair.
Pelosi is in San Francisco mourning and preparing for the Thursday funeral of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, she said in a statement.
“Office space doesn’t matter to me, but it seems to be important to them,” Pelosi said. “Now that the new Republican Leadership has settled this important matter, let’s hope they get to work on what’s truly important for the American people.”
Pelosi and McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) were famously rivals, but he allowed Pelosi to keep her Capitol hideaway office as former speaker. Most lawmakers do not keep offices in the main Capitol building.
The ousted speaker had relied on his skills of working with factions and placating the GOP’s radical flank. But ‘his strengths ended up undoing him.’
Pelosi called the office move a break from House tradition, adding that as speaker, she gave her GOP predecessor, Rep. Dennis Hastert, “a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished.”
McHenry is in the unprecedented role of speaker pro tempore until the election of a new speaker, which is expected to take place next week.
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