WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers who had been sitting in stunned silence gasped at the declaration: The office of speaker “is hereby declared vacant. ”For the first time ever, a House speaker had been voted out of the position, plunging Congress into a new degree of turmoil. “Chaos is Speaker McCarthy,” Gaetz said on the floor, suggesting a series of reforms could make Washington work better. “Shocking … just the finality of it," said Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Foreign Relations Committee. Republicans will try to coalesce around a new leader after McCarthy ruled out another bid to become speaker.

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