New Acting Speaker McHenry Orders Pelosi’s Capitol Office Eviction, Drawing Controversy.
Not even 24 hours and bad news is coming down for Pelosi from the acting Speaker.
In an unexpected twist of events, Rep. Patrick McHenry, recently appointed as Acting Speaker following McCarthy’s departure, wasted no time in asserting his newfound authority. With all the powers of a House Speaker at his disposal, he promptly issued an order for Nancy Pelosi to vacate her secluded Capitol office by Wednesday.
An email said the former speaker’s hideaway was being reassigned “for speaker office use.”
“Please vacate the space tomorrow, the room will be re-keyed,” the email read.
This move comes as a culmination of McCarthy’s earlier selection of McHenry as Speaker Pro Tempore earlier this year. Pelosi, however, didn’t take kindly to the swift action and criticized it as a “sharp departure from tradition.”
According to Politico:
As one of his first acts as the acting speaker, Rep. Patrick McHenry ordered former Speaker Nancy Pelosi to vacate her Capitol hideaway office by Wednesday, according to an email sent to her office viewed by POLITICO.
“Please vacate the space tomorrow, the room will be re-keyed,” wrote a top aide on the Republican-controlled House Administration Committee. The room was being reassigned by the acting speaker “for speaker office use,” the email said.
What makes this situation even more intriguing is that the former speaker isn’t currently in Washington, DC. She’s presently in California, attending the funeral of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein. She expressed her inability to comply with the directive, stating, “Sadly, because I am in California to mourn the loss of and pay tribute to my dear friend Dianne Feinstein, I am unable to retrieve my belongings at this time.”
Capitol hideaways are a mainstay in the Senate, but are a luxury only afforded to a select few House members.
Why do any employees of We The People have hideaway offices? How much are those costing us in taxpayer dollars?
