Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida on Wednesday continued hitting out at Kevin McCarthy’s unsuccessful bid to be elected as Speaker of the House, after the latter failed his sixth consecutive leadership election in the span of two days.
“He’s a desperate guy whose vote share is dropping with every subsequent vote and I am ready to vote all night, all week, all month, and never for that person,” the Florida Republican said, going against Donald Trump’s endorsement earlier that day saying Mr McCarthy “will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB.”
Mr Gaetz, normally a staunch Trump ally, has been one of the key leaders of the group of far-right conservatives opposing Mr McCarthy’s Speaker bid, alongside Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.
The group has clashed publicly with the GOP mainstream over the Speaker race, making extra demands for new rules making it easier to challenger the Speaker’s influence, votes on a balanced budget, an immigration proposal backed by Texas representatives, term limits in Congress, and specific committee assignments.
Mr Gaetz in particular has been a thorn in Mr McCarthy’s side, going so far as to accuse the longtime GOP leader of being a “squatter” in the House Speaker’s office in a recent letter to the Architect of the US Capitol.
"What is the basis in law, House rule, or precedent to allow someone who has placed second in three successive speaker elections to occupy the Speaker of the House Office?" the letter reads.
Former Congress member and Trump White House official Mick Mulvaney wrote a Twitter post on Wednesday accusing the opposition bloc of being part of “the Matt Gaetz PR campaign.”
Mr Mulvaney said he’d been hearing Mr Gaetz was demanding a committee to investigate the FBI with its own budget and the Florida rep at the helm.
Mr Gaetz, responding to the post, appeared to confirm these wishes, but said he would want Pennsylvania’s Scott Perry to lead the committee.
Mr Perry played a key role in an unsuccessful plot to remove Justice Department officials who supported the true outcome of the 2020 election.
Until the GOP can hash out a pick for the Speaker’s office, the business of the House is at a standstill.
The Republican party hasn’t failed to pick a Speaker on the first round of votes since 1923.
