As the debt-ceiling deal between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden inched toward approval, two GOP lawmakers, including Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, suggested hardcore conservatives among House Republicans might soon invoke their chit to oust their leader.
But McCarthy may survive for now, as he appeared to rally enough Republicans to vote for his widely criticized bargain with Biden.
In all, on Wednesday, 149 of the 222 House Republicans voted with McCarthy and the Democrats to push the debt ceiling higher.
McCarthy needed at least 112 Republicans to support his deal with Biden, which would raise the national debt ceiling by an astronomical $4 trillion over the next two years, to avoid a vote by his own party to strip him of his job.
In the news: McCarthy, Biden Reach Tentative Debt Ceiling Deal
Back in January, when McCarthy became speaker after 15 rounds of voting, one provision of the bargain he struck with Gaetz and 19 other GOP holdouts was a commitment to step aside if there was one motion put forward for him to vacate his post.
Peace reigned since he took the job, as McCarthy has given his critics almost all of what they wanted. But the debt-ceiling deal with Biden may cause some second thoughts.
Rep. Dan Bishop appeared to be first to call for McCarthy to go. He told Politico over the weekend that it was “inescapable” to him that the motion for McCarthy to vacate was necessary. “It has to be done,” he said.
On Tuesday, Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican, did not go that far. But he told Newsmax that McCarthy’s future hinged on “whether or not the speaker can get to a majority of the majority.”
“If a majority of Republicans are against a piece of legislation, and you use Democrats to pass it, that would immediately be a black-letter violation of the deal we had with McCarthy to allow his ascent to the speakership, and it would likely trigger an immediate motion to vacate,” Gaetz told Newsmax.
In the news: Rep. Matt Gaetz: FBI Paid Cash Bonuses To Leaders Who Targeted Conservative Americans
“I think Speaker McCarthy knows that. That’s why he’s working hard to make sure that he gets 120, 150, 160 votes.”
“We cannot pass bills with a majority of the Republicans in opposition, so if folks are against this, they should reach out to their member of Congress and have their voice heard,” added Gaetz, who is one of 25 GOP lawmakers already committed to rejecting the deal.
Several Florida Republicans are in that group, including Reps. Byron Donalds, Kat Cammack, Michael Waltz, Vern Buchanan, Cory Mills, Anna Paulina Luna, and Bill Posey.
On Wednesday, Gaetz told Newsmax that the proposal gives away too much on spending.
It is “like me gaining 50 pounds and saying, ‘That’s OK because I’m going to take a walk to the ice cream store on the following day,’” he said.
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