House GOP must drop ‘any member can move to unseat the speaker’ rule

However House Republicans settle on their new leader, one thing is a must: The rule that lets a single member call for a floor vote on unseating the speaker has to go.

Now-ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to the rule back in January, in the negotiations for the votes to get the job. But his critics started using the threat against him by about Day 2, and finally pounced this week.

Indeed, the eight Republicans who united with the Democratic caucus to vote to unseat him had surely been egging each other on for weeks or months, talking it up as a “bold” and/or “necessary” move.

In the event, though, it was just Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla) who made the motion.

McCarthy is convinced Gaetz did it because the speaker refused to quash an Ethics Committee probe. Gaetz denies it, but the fact remains: It was one member’s action.

This is no way to run anything: Unseating the speaker of the House — second in line to succeed the president, right after the veep — should require a far more substantial level of discontent, say 10% of the majority members.

That would force the rebels to debate the idea among themselves and reach a consensus and a critical mass.

They might even (unlike Gaetz this week) pause to consider what comes next if they succeed.

As it is, the House floor is frozen from taking on any other business until a new speaker gets installed.

Worse, even committee work — like the Biden impeachment inquiry — is hobbled, with questionable powers to, for example, subpoena witnesses.

No, the next speaker shouldn’t be impossible to depose, but a leader needs some job security to lead effectively.

The candidates for the job now should agree among themselves to put Gaetz & Co. on notice: Without a workable rule for the “motion to depose,” none of them should be willing to take the job.