In a historic precedent, the United States House of Representatives voted to impeach its Speaker, Kevin McCarthy.

    The position of the Speaker of the House has been declared vacant, and McCarthy will continue to carry out his duties until a new Speaker is elected. This marks the first time in U.S. history that the House of Representatives has voted to remove its Speaker from office.

The vote came with 216 in favor of McCarthy's removal and 210 against it. The Speaker of the House position was declared vacant, and McCarthy will continue to manage the work until a new Speaker is elected.

The chances of Kevin McCarthy remaining as the Speaker of the House dwindled on Tuesday after Democrats announced they would not come to his rescue in a vote initiated by extremists within his own Republican party seeking to oust him.

McCarthy incurred the wrath of the far-right wing of his party over the weekend when he collaborated with Democrats to pass a temporary budget agreement to avoid a government shutdown.

The move was led by Congressman Matt Gaetz, who has long been a critic of McCarthy. He submitted a "motion to vacate the chair" on Monday, leading to the scheduled vote at around 2:00 PM (18:00 GMT).

This action forced Democrats to make a decision on whether to save the Speaker, who spent much of his tenure opposing their agenda while supporting former President Donald Trump and recently opening an investigation aimed at impeaching President Joe Biden.

In the end, House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries encouraged Democrats to remove McCarthy, while also criticizing the far-right members of his own party, whom he referred to as "MAGA extremists," a reference to the Trump movement's slogan, "Make America Great Again."

Jeffries stated in a message to his colleagues, "Given their unwillingness to truly and comprehensively rid themselves of MAGA extremism, the Democratic leadership of the House will vote 'yes' on the Republican motion to vacate the chair."

This latest battle in Congress comes two days after both the House and Senate passed a measure to avoid a costly government shutdown, with significant bipartisan support in both chambers, by extending federal funding until mid-November.

Conservatives were incensed by what they viewed as a shift in McCarthy's stance, as he pledged to end the rushed temporary legislation that was passed with Democratic support and return budget matters to committee.

McCarthy does not enjoy strong support from either party, and many liberal lawmakers have indicated a preference for observing Republican infighting from a distance rather than getting involved.

McCarthy's allies insist that he opposes making deals with Democrats and will face renewed criticism either way if he responds to demands of this nature.

The far-right House Freedom Caucus has been a thorn in McCarthy's side since he assumed the position in January, but many of its prominent members have declared their opposition to his removal.

South Carolina Representative Ralph Norman said, "I've had deep disappointments with many aspects of McCarthy's leadership, but now is not the time" to remove him.