Gaetz: We Will See If Dems ‘Bail Out Our Failed Speaker’

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., took to the House floor once again Tuesday night to rail against the leadership of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., delivering another veiled threat at removing him while wondering aloud if Democrats will “bail out our failed Speaker.”

Gaetz’s speech comes days away from a shutdown if Congress is unable to pass a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open by the Sept. 30 deadline.

To that end, a bipartisan group of senators unveiled a short-term funding bill that would fund the government through Nov. 17, adding in $6 billion supplemental funding for Ukraine for good measure, an add-on that will incense House hardliners like Gaetz, who have tried to force the shutdown in the first place over excessive spending on a $33 trillion national debt.

“It is an insult to our governing authority that the Senate [attached] Ukraine funding to the reauthorization of the FAA, and by the way, every other thing in government,” Gaetz said.

However, it’s a bill that can get out of the Senate and pass the House — with Democrat votes.

“And the one thing I agree with my Democrat colleagues on is that for the last eight months, this House has been poorly led,” Gaetz said. “And we own that and we have to do something about it and you know what? My Democratic colleagues will have an opportunity to do something about that too, and we will see if they bail out our failed Speaker.”

Gaetz has repeatedly hung a motion to vacate over McCarthy’s head, so far, stopping short of doing it. It just takes one member to bring it up.

House Republicans did finally advance four full-year spending bills on Tuesday among the 12 in total that need to get passed, not enough to avert the shutdown.

“I’m working all my time to make sure that there would not be a shutdown,” McCarthy said Tuesday.