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Rep. Matt Gaetz avoided giving any names when pressed on who he would want as the new House speaker if he succeeds in ousting Kevin McCarthy from the job.
Mr. Gaetz, who has been ramping up his threats to boost Mr. McCarthy, said he was too busy to discuss his Plan B for who wields the speaker’s gavel.
“Right now, I’m focused on getting these spending bills passed,” Mr. Gaetz, Florida Republican, told The Washington Times at the Capitol on Tuesday.
Earlier, Mr. Gaetz delivered a speech on the House floor in which he intensified his threats to oust Mr. McCarthy, who could be ejected with what’s known as a motion to vacate the chair.
“For the last eight months, this House has been poorly led, and we own that. We have to do something about it,” Mr. Gaetz said on the House floor. “And you know what? My Democrat colleagues will have an opportunity to do.”
Mr. Gaetz also made the case to a gaggle of reporters at the Capitol, saying Mr. McCarthy has failed to live up to the promises he made to arch-conservatives in exchange for helping elect him speaker.
“Whether or not there is even a motion to vacate remains entirely in the control of speaker McCarthy. It is not a certainty, and I wouldn’t want anyone to report that it is,” he said. “But he’s got to come into compliance with the deal that he made with us in January. Moving some single-subject spending bills is a nominal step. But we certainly expect complete compliance, not just moving four bills.”
Mr. Gaetz is among the arch-conservatives opposing a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown set to start at midnight Saturday. He said Mr. McCarthy is being put to the test by temporary spending measures that extend current spending, which was set last Congress when Democrats were in charge.
“It’s just untenable for a Republican House Speaker to use Democrat votes to extend the spending policies of Joe Biden,” he said.
Mr. Gaetz has been a thorn in Mr. McCarthy’s side since he first attempted to keep the speakership away from the California Republican when the GOP took control of the House in January.
In the speaker election in January, Mr. Gaetz supported Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio for speaker. Mr. Jordan declined to run against Mr. McCarthy and now serves as chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
Other Republicans, including Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Byron Donalds of Florida were also nominated for speaker, but none came close to the number of votes needed to win. After making concessions to GOP holdouts, Mr. McCarthy eventually captured the speakership in a historic 15 rounds of voting.
As part of a concession for their support, a House rule was re-instated that allows any lawmaker to call a vote on a motion to vacate the chair.
Another part of the agreement was to pass 12 individual appropriations bills as opposed to a massive catchall bill as has been the norm for years.
Mr. McCarthy is now in a bind to pass the 12 annual spending bills as the shutdown looms. The current trajectory would have Congress passing individual spending bills during the shutdown.
When asked about Mr. Gaetz’s threats to oust him, Mr. McCarthy responded: “He never voted for me to start out with. I don’t assume he’s changing his position.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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