House Republicans like Matt Gaetz are ‘stuck on stupid’: GOP Rep. rips his COLLEAGUES for shutdown debacle – and Speaker Paul Ryan says it makes party ‘look like fools’
House Republicans like Matt Gaetz are ‘stuck with stupid’: Republican Rep rips his COLLEAGUES over the shutdown debacle – and Chairman Paul Ryan says the party ‘looks like fools’
- Congress is likely to pass a Saturday deadline to pass a spending bill in both chambers to fund the government in the 2024 fiscal year
- The Senate on Wednesday released a bipartisan spending deal to extend that deadline by six weeks. McCarthy says this will not pass the House of Representatives
- “It’s nihilism, that’s what it is,” Paul Ryan said at an event in his home state of Wisconsin. ‘We look like fools. It seems we cannot govern’
Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated with right-wing members of the House of Representatives who are standing in the way of an agreement that could avert the looming government shutdown.
Congress is likely to pass a Saturday deadline to pass a spending bill in both chambers to fund the government in the 2024 fiscal year. The Senate on Wednesday released a bipartisan spending deal to extend that deadline by six weeks, which House leadership has said is dead on September 21. arrival.
“It’s nihilism, that’s what it is,” the former Speaker of the House of Representatives said at an event in his home state of Wisconsin. ‘We look like fools. It seems we cannot govern.”
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents a district President Biden won in New York in 2020, attacked his Republican colleagues who he said are “stuck in stupidity,” singling out Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida.
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents a district President Biden won in New York in 2020, attacked his Republican colleagues who he said are “stuck in stupid,” singling out Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Fla.
“Two weeks ago, the speaker introduced a proposal that would cut spending by 8 percent in the 30-day resolution and would adopt most of the provisions of HR 2 to address our border crisis,” Lawler said. “Unfortunately, for some ridiculous reason, people like Matt Gaetz have chosen to oppose that.”
Gaetz has said he would immediately make a motion to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy as chairman if he were to bring a continuing resolution to the table that would receive Democratic support.
Gaetz and his like-minded colleagues want the House to pass 12 separate appropriations bills that would cut spending below the level agreed to in the debt ceiling deal between McCarthy and President Biden.
To emphasize inflation and the argument for austerity, Gaetz pointed to Senator Bob Menendez’s charge: “We have so much debt, we’re running up deficits so fast, we’re devaluing American money so fast that in America today can’. Even if you don’t even want to bribe Democratic senators in cash, you need gold bars so the money can hold value!’ he said in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
Even if the House were to pass 12 appropriations bills, the Senate would not agree to spending at those levels and the government would still be closed.
Meanwhile, McCarthy promised a vote on a party-line continuing resolution (CR) on Friday — saying the Senate CR, which includes funding for Ukraine and no border security provisions, is dead on arrival.
The speaker is now demanding that Biden sit down with him to work on a plan to secure the border and in return make a deal to avoid a shutdown.
“If President Biden continues to sit on the sidelines while our border is destroyed day in and day out, the government will shut down. His lack of leadership will have catastrophic consequences,” McCarthy told reporters Wednesday after meeting with the Republican conference.
“Why don’t you sit in on a meeting? Why don’t you seriously ensure that the government does not go bankrupt? The first thing I would do? I would sit with him. I want to sit down with the president to secure that border.”
McCarthy expressed optimism that his CR would pass, just as other House leaders did not.
“We will pass a continuing resolution, which will hopefully come out on Friday, that will keep the government open, but at the same time address the border,” the speaker told reporters.
He said the Senate deal had no chance in his chamber because it included $6 billion for Ukraine and no border security provisions.
Rule Chairman Rep. Oklahoma’s Tom Cole told reporters: “The two rooms are far apart. So again, I’m not at all confident that we won’t go into a shutdown.
Other moderate members have grown frustrated with the outsized influence of a small group of right-wing conservatives who say they oppose any continuation of the resolution and appear determined to thwart McCarthy’s agenda, whatever it is.
‘We should never let five or ten people wander around like that. They have no alternative plan. Who do they want as Speaker?’ said Nebraska GOP Rep. Don Bacon.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer attacked McCarthy Wednesday morning for avoiding a bipartisan deal.
“In the House of Representatives, Republicans have tried everything but bipartisanship. Last night the speaker twisted himself into pretzels again in an attempt to avoid his government responsibility. But this is the truth. Every bill Republicans have introduced in the House of Representatives has been partisan.”