Matt Gaetz, the staunch conservative representative from Florida, is again making waves in the House of Representatives, challenging the authority of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy yet again.
On Tuesday, Gaetz – who was one of the prominent members of the small group of Republicans who held up McCarthy’s confirmation as House Speaker earlier this year – threatened that he would introduce a motion to vacate McCarthy as leader of the lower chamber.
Gaetz directly addressed McCarthy in a House floor speech he gave recently, saying:
“Mr. Speaker, we told you how to use the power of the purse. Individual, single subject spending bills that would allow us to have specific review programmatic analysis that would allow us to zero out the salaries of the bureaucrats who have broken bad, targeted President Trump or cut sweetheart deals.
“You have not put us in a position to succeed. There is no way to pass all the individual appropriations bills now. … You must be better. And this House must be better for it is the last best hope for 10s of millions of Republicans.”
Gaetz continued, saying that he demands “real oversight” of the government so that it can’t be weaponized anymore. He publicly called for President Joe Biden to be impeached, due to claims of financial corruption.
Not long before Gaetz gave his speech, McCarthy actually announced that the GOP would officially launch an impeachment inquiry into the president. In making his announcement, McCarthy said he thinks there’s sufficient evidence to support an impeachment inquiry, based on evidence gathered by both the House Oversight Committee and the House Judiciary Committee.
Yet, that apparently wasn’t enough for the Florida representative. He said in his floor speech:
“Moments ago, Speaker McCarthy endorsed an impeachment inquiry. This is a baby step following weeks of pressure from House conservatives to do more. We must move faster.
“Now, I will concede that the votes I have called for will likely fail. Term limits, balanced budgets, maybe even impeachment. I am prepared for that eventuality because, at least if we take votes, the American people get to see who’s fighting for them and who’s willing to tolerate more corruption and business as usual.”
One potential sticking point that might be rubbing Gaetz the wrong way is that, while McCarthy said an impeachment inquiry would move forward, he didn’t announce a vote on the matter, which would be necessary for it to officially begin.
To that point, Gaetz suggested that McCarthy “dust off our written January agreement,” referring to the deal he cut with conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus that led to him finally getting confirmed as Speaker.
The Florida representative continued to address McCarthy when he said:
“Reflect on the spirit of that agreement, and build on the start that we had moments ago. Begin to comply. No continuing resolutions, individual spending bills or bust votes on balanced budgets and term limits, subpoenas for Hunter Biden and the members of the Biden family who’ve been grifting off of this country and the impeachment for Joe Biden that he so richly deserves.
“Do these things or face a motion to vacate the chair.”
