Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) gave viewers of the Rubin Report a look into Washington, D.C. politics, describing the legislation as a "grift game" wherein bloated bills "written by lobbyists" are decided in a single day.
"The grift game in Washington, D.C. is enabled by thousand-page bills written by lobbyists that members only have a day to read and vote on. We had to force upon the system a better way of legislating and that’s exactly what we got," Rep. Gaetz summarized.
The grift game in Washington, D.C. is enabled by thousand-page bills written by lobbyists that members only have a day to read and vote on.
We had to force upon the system a better way of legislating and that’s exactly what we got. pic.twitter.com/CBllFvDcwM
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) April 10, 2023
In addition, Rep. Gaetz said he is "tired" of the way Washington works, calling it "deeply corrupt," adding that "people are more interested in serving their PAC (political action committee) fundraisers than they are the needs of their constituents."
"Like I've said, this is my fourth term. And I'm tired of the way this place works. I think it's deeply corrupt, I think the lobbyists run the show most of the time, and I think people are more interested in serving their PAC fundraisers than they are the needs of their constituents. And it's a grift game," Gaetz continued.
He then described how this "grift game" works.
Gaetz told of a "sophisticated structure" that effectively does not hold members of Congress accountable for their legislation. The primary means of support for this structure is the previously-described introduction of "some multi-thousand-page bill" that Congress must read within a day before voting.
A prime example in recent years was the omnibus spending bill, which was heavily criticized by Florida Republicans.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) used similar wording as Gaetz, saying he had "voted no today because this is a 4,100-page mega-bill, released only hours before voting, and drafted by a small group of senators with no input from the overwhelming majority of the Senate."
In effect, members of Congress must choose between "voting for a bunch of crap you don't agree with" or effectively abandoning their constituents.
By contrast, if votes were to be instead tallied by individual "departments, authorizations, bills, and spending," accountability would be more effective.
"What facilitates that grift game is an entire sophisticated structure that ensures nobody's really responsible for the legislating. If we had to take individual votes on individual departments, authorizations, bills, and spending, then we would probably be held to account to a greater degree by the people in this country. But instead, what you get is every year or so, some multi-thousand-page bill that you get a day, day-and-a-half to read, and the whole deal is thumbs-up or thumbs-down on the whole thing. And then you're left with the decision of voting for a bunch of crap you don't agree with, or leaving out the widows, and the orphans, and the veterans, and the military, and things that every American would care about," Gaetz concluded.
Gaetz has been highly critical of the federal government on multiple fronts, recently referring to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as "rotten to the core."
