Just moments after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) called for a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden (D), Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) rose on the House floor to threaten the Speaker’s position as the leader of House of Representatives.
Rep. Gaetz described Speaker McCarthy’s move as “baby steps” towards progress.
On this very floor in January, the whole world witnessed a historic contest for House Speaker.
I rise today to serve notice. Mr. Speaker, you are out of compliance with the agreement that allowed you to assume this role. The path forward for the House of Representatives is to… pic.twitter.com/1IFsrmT8KK
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) September 12, 2023
“I rise today to serve notice. Mr. Speaker: You are out of compliance with the agreement that allowed you to assume this role. The path forward for the House of Representatives is to either bring you into immediate, total compliance or remove you pursuant to a motion to vacate the chair,” stated Rep. Gaetz.
He would go on to remind the American people of the lack of effort made to address the concerns that Republicans have had since winning the majority in the lower chamber.
“We’ve had no vote on term limits or on balanced budgets as the agreement demanded and required. There’s been no full release of the January 6 tapes. As you promised, there has been insufficient accountability for the Biden crime family and instead of cutting spending to raise the debt limit, you relied on budgetary gimmicks and recisions, so that you ultimately ended up serving as the valet to underwrite Biden’s debt and advance his spending agenda,” said Gaetz on the House floor.
Gaetz then chastised McCarthy for not being proactive enough to use the power of the subpoena and the purse.
“Mr. Speaker, you boasted in January, that we would use the power of the subpoena and the power of the purse. But here we are eight months later, and we haven't even sent the first subpoena to Hunter Biden…At this point during Democratic control over the House of Representatives, they had already brought in Don[ald Trump] Jr. three times. And we haven’t even sent the first subpoena to Hunter Biden – power of the subpoena – And power of the purse, the only thing the 118th Congress is known for at this point is electing Kevin McCarthy Speaker and underwriting Biden’s debt, and unfortunately, there’s only one of those things we can remediate at this time.”
Moreover, Gaetz argues that the Speaker has not put Republicans in a position to succeed.
“Power of the purse – Our leadership right now is asking us to vote for a continuing resolution. A vote for a continuing resolution is a vote to continue the Green New Deal, a vote to continue inflationary spending, and in the most troubling of fashions, a vote for a continuing resolution is a vote to continue the election interference of [Special Counsel] Jack Smith,” stated Gaetz.
He continued, “Mr. Speaker, we told you how to use the power of the purse: Individual, single-subject spending bills that would allow us to have specific review, programmatic analysis, and that would allow us to zero out the salaries of the bureaucrats who have broken bad, targeted President Trump, or cut sweetheart deals for Hunter Biden.”
The Florida Congressman concluded with a message that the Speaker might have made progress regarding the investigation of President Biden, but that it is not enough.
“Now, moments ago, Speaker McCarthy endorsed an impeachment inquiry. This is a baby step following weeks of pressure from House conservatives to do more. We must move faster…Do these things or face a motion to vacate the chair. And let me alert the country: A motion to vacate might not pass at first. But it might before the 15th vote. And if Democrats bail out McCarthy as they may do, then I will lead the resistance to this uni-party and the Biden, McCarthy, [House Minority Leader Hakeem] Jeffries (D-NY) party that they are attempting to build. I know that Washington isn’t a town where people are known for keeping their word. Well, Speaker McCarthy, I’m here to hold you to yours.”
In January, Matt Gaetz led the charge in the Freedom Caucus in an attempt to block Kevin McCarthy from becoming Speaker.
