Gaetz's Amendment Withholding Funding for FBI Fails in the House

Congressman Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) amendment to restrict funding for a new Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) building failed in the House of Representatives.

Rep. Gaetz’s amendment failed by a vote of 145 to 273. It would’ve been a part of H.R. 4664, also known informally as the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill.

The Florida congressman said, “We should not be awarding nefarious behavior.”

“Time after time we have seen the FBI target President Trump, people who believe in the Second Amendment, parents attending school board meetings, and more recently, some of their own brave FBI whistleblowers who have spoken up about the weaponization of our Federal Government,” said Rep. Gaetz. “We should not be awarding nefarious behavior by wasting hundreds of millions of dollars for a new headquarters in the DC-area.”

He concluded, mentioning, “Although my amendment failed, I will continue my fight to defang and defund government agencies that have been weaponized against the American people.”

In a social media post, Gaetz said that those in the FBI should “sit in that rat-infested building.”

“Republicans like Rep. Steve Womack believe the FBI should be rewarded with a new $300M headquarters larger than the Pentagon because the building is ‘crumbling.’ Guess what? Our country is crumbling when a weaponized security state targets the civil liberties of American citizens because of their politics. Those in the J. Edgar Hoover Building should sit in that rat-infested building until they get their act straight,” said Gaetz.

While politicians cannot “win them all,” Rep. Gaetz flexed his big win in Congress as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), a more conservative member, replaced Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in October.

Additionally, single-subject spending bills were back on the table.

With this in mind, Rep. Gaetz praised the House of Representatives for including his amendment in the Department of Interior Appropriations bill which aims to protect small businesses in Northwest Florida, particularly Crab Island.

Rep. Gaetz believes his amendment was able to be passed due to the switch to single-subject spending bills – a major rallying cry for his and the Freedom Caucus’ efforts in January and October as Republicans were looking to unite behind a Speaker.

“Because we had a single-subject spending bill on the Department of the Interior, I was able to go to the floor of the House of Representatives to make the case that our state and local governments are best prepared to manage Crab Island, not the federal Department of the Interior,” said Rep. Gaetz.

Members of Congress will need to decide how they want to approach the looming government shutdown, which will occur Nov. 17.