A version of this story appeared in the On Background newsletter from The Washington Times. Click here to receive On Background delivered directly to your inbox each Friday.
Rep. Matt Gaetz took a victory lap Wednesday shortly after Rep. Mike Johnson was elected House speaker, telling The Washington Times he felt “vindicated” for leading the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy and saying it gave rise to a more conservative leader.
The Florida Republican led the removal of Mr. McCarthy, an unprecedented move that gave way to three weeks of turmoil and fierce divisions in the GOP House.
“It fulfilled my commitment to have one who’s more honest and more conservative,” Mr. Gaetz said. “I think these were the most productive 22 days we’ve had in the House of Representatives because we were able to vanquish the lobbyist vessel formerly known as Speaker McCarthy.”
Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican who was most recently vice chair of the House GOP conference, was elected with the support of all 220 Republicans in the wake of three failed speakership bids by colleagues.
Mr. Gaetz led the motion to vacate against Mr. McCarthy that made him the first speaker in U.S. history on Oct. 3 to be stripped of the gavel. Eight Republicans, including Mr. Gaetz, and all Democrats voted to remove Mr. McCarthy.
Mr. Johnson is promising an ambitious schedule to pass a budget in the coming weeks as Congress works on annual spending bills but signaled another stopgap funding measure will likely be required to avoid a Nov. 18 government shutdown. Such temporary spending measures require bipartisan support to pass Congress.
But Mr. McCarthy’s use of such a measure to keep the government open, known as a continuing resolution, was the nail in the coffin for conservative hard-liners that prompted Mr. McCarthy’s downfall.
This time, however, Mr. Gaetz said he is willing to get on board with such a move because he trusts Mr. Johnson’s handling of the appropriations process.
“Kevin McCarthy was only doing a continuing resolution to get to another continuing resolution,” Mr. Gaetz said. “If Kevin McCarthy had ever been serious about single-subject spending bills, we would have been working during August, and he’d probably still have a job.”
“But instead, he sent us home,” Mr. Gaetz said, referring to a six-week August recess. “So, we sent him home.”
Mr. McCarthy griped about the acceptance of a stopgap measure now that he was no longer speaker.
SEE ALSO: Speaker Mike Johnson declares the House is ‘back in business’
“I thought they said no [continuing resolutions]?” Mr. McCarthy told The Times. “I thought I was removed because of a [continuing resolution]?”
— Kerry Picket contributed to this report.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.