Originally published October 4, 2023 7:17 am PDT
Upon his recent appointment as Speaker Pro Tempore following Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) ouster from the position, Patrick McHenry (R-NC), swiftly directed former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), to relinquish her office space in the Capitol.
This directive, as per reports from POLITICO, was conveyed through an email on Tuesday, instructing, “Please vacate the space tomorrow, the room will be re-keyed.”
The email further clarified that the office is earmarked “for speaker office use,” signifying a reclamation of spaces typically designated for the House leadership.
Pelosi, who was utilizing the space as a “hideaway office,” a privilege extended to a select cadre of House Representatives, was apprised of this development while in San Francisco, attending a memorial service for the late Dianne Feinstein.
Hideaway offices, private and unmarked spaces within the Capitol, are usually the prerogative of the House leadership.
However, Pelosi had retained one owing to her former position as Speaker.
The action marked one of the initial moves by McHenry in his new capacity as Speaker Pro Tempore.
Unlike most lawmakers, who maintain offices in buildings around the Capitol, a few like Pelosi enjoyed the privilege of an office within the Capitol premises due to their leadership status.
Reacting to the directive, Pelosi expressed her displeasure in a statement to ABC News, saying, “With all of the important decisions that the new Republican Leadership must address, which we are all eagerly awaiting, one of the first actions taken by the new Speaker Pro Tempore was to order me to immediately vacate my office in the Capitol. 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.”
She further added, “This eviction is a sharp departure from tradition. As Speaker, I gave former Speaker Hastert a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished.”
