Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz has a warning for Speaker Kevin McCarthy: Launching an impeachment inquiry to appease the right wing won’t save you.
“I’ve fallen for this mirage before,” Gaetz said of the recently announced impeachment inquiry.
The Florida Republican recalled that McCarthy went to the southern border to “gaslight” efforts to breach Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas.
“It’s clear that McCarthy did not take Mayorka’s ouster seriously,” Gaetz said.
“The first thing that happens is Kevin McCarthy worries about losing power, as he did in January, and as he did in recent weeks as I increased the pressure on him, and then the second thing he does is give that there is an impending impeachment or impeachment inquiry underway, and the reality is that this has only been a slow boat to China so far. It hasn’t been authentic, genuine or robust.”
Congress has returned from recess and is now at the critical juncture to pass twelve separate spending bills before the September 30 deadline – which would be nothing short of a miracle, as it would require both chambers to come together and agree on all of the bills must become.
“I’ve fallen for this mirage before,” Gaetz said of the recently announced impeachment inquiry
McCarthy announced a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden on Tuesday
It seems increasingly likely, McCarthy concedes, that Congress will have to push back the deadline and pass a continuing resolution to keep spending at fiscal year 2023 levels for a period of time while they finalize the details of the fiscal year’s spending bills to work out. 2024.
If the House and Senate never agree on spending levels for 12 separate spending bills, they could pass an omnibus: a comprehensive bill that sets funding levels for all departments at once.
If Congress passes a continuing resolution lasting until January, there would be an automatic one percent cut across the board under the Biden-McCarthy debt deal.
But conservatives in the Republican conference oppose the idea of continuing spending at all at the 2023 level, which was set last year when Democrats controlled the House of Representatives.
Gaetz told reporters on a press call that it would be “shot down, hunter” – if McCarthy tried to draft a continuing resolution (CR), he would immediately move to remove him.
“Continuing resolution, motion to evict,” Gaetz said, referring to the process by which any member can call a vote to remove the speaker.
Meanwhile, the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) held a press conference on Tuesday to increase pressure on the leadership not to go the CR route.
“We are not interested in a moving resolution,” HFC Chairman Scott Perry said. ‘We are not going to vote for it.’
But Perry declined to speculate on whether introducing a clean, continuing resolution could cost McCarthy his speakership.
Freedom Caucus member Clay Higgins, R-La., warned Gaetz against making threats against the speaker.
“Let me say that my colleagues should think deeply before embarking on that path,” he told DailyMail.com.
Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., hinted he would support Gaetz’s motion to vacate if it were to emerge. “I certainly agree that the speaker violated the agreements made in January.”
If McCarthy were to introduce a continuing resolution, he would need the votes of some Democrats to pass it to make up for conservative deviations. But if Gaetz were to vote to impeach McCarthy, he would need Democratic votes to make up for conservatives not voting to impeach McCarthy.
“If we have to start every day in Congress with the prayer, the pledge and the motion to evict, then so be it,” Gaetz said, underscoring that he was “serious” about removing the speaker.
Conservative complaints about McCarthy have focused not only on concerns that the Republican Party in the House of Representatives will not push through twelve separate spending bills, but also on a list of promises McCarthy allegedly made to his right-wing critics in exchange for their votes for his position as speaker in the House of Representatives. January.
Gaetz insisted that McCarthy has not kept those promises.
“McCarthy has not kept his promises on individual spending, on sufficiently strict oversight, on deadlines and balanced budgets,” he said.
“McCarthy can immediately vote for term limits. McCarthy can vote on a balanced budget amendment as soon as he is required to do so under this deal. McCarthy could release the full data from January 6 immediately. This does not require a vote. I mean, these are things he can accomplish. And now we need answers about why we are here on September 30, with no bills on one issue even brought up.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., accused Gaetz of threatening to work with Democrats to oust the speaker — and said removing McCarthy would delay the Biden investigation.
“If we get rid of our Republican chairman by working with the Democrats to throw out our Republican chairman. And what is the plan to replace him?’ she said in an interview with DailyMail.com.
Republicans are investigating the extent to which President Biden was involved in the Biden family’s foreign business dealings
“How do we move forward with our impeachment inquiry that our Republican Chairman Kevin McCarthy just announced? So instead of burning everything down, how can we move forward and accomplish anything when my good friend Matt Gaetz is working with the Democrats to kick out our Republican chairman?”
McCarthy formally announced an impeachment inquiry into President Biden on Tuesday morning — a move he said will give more weight to the House Republican Party’s investigation into Biden’s family business deals.
Republicans are largely supportive of the investigation so far. Even Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., who originally said an impeachment inquiry would be “theater,” called it a “good move” on Tuesday.