Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida on Sunday disputed claims that a supposed government shutdown, which may occur next week if a new budget plan is not adopted, will hinder Republican lawmakers from investigating President Joe Biden’s corruption.
Appearing on FOX News Channels’ Sunday Morning Futures with host Maria Bartiromo, the Fort Walton Beach Republican told host Maria Bartiromo that her “premise was false” by suggesting that the GOP would pull back even if government operations temporarily halt.
Gaetz and other conservatives are rejecting a proposal that would continue to fund the government at current levels until a new budget is adopted. Gaetz has said Speaker Kevin McCarthy must live by the compromise that got him elected in January and allow spending bills to be voted on individually rather than in one massive package.
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“We don’t put our pencils down in the investigation of President Biden during a shutdown,” said Gaetz. “Secondly, if Kevin McCarthy was actually serious about pursuing the Bidens, he would have sent Hunter Biden a subpoena by now. That’s how you know this is sort of failure theater you’re observing.”
Gaetz added that he wants to fund the government, but the way to do that is not to continue on the same path Washington has used for 30 years.
“The way to fund the government is not by doing it the same way Congress has since the mid-90s, where it’s one up or down vote on the entire government all at once. We should have separate single-subject spending bills. Kevin McCarthy promised that in January. He is in breach of that promise. So, I’m not here to hold the government hostage. I’m here to hold Kevin McCarthy to his word,” Gaetz said.
As an example, he cited the budget bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which has not received a vote despite being pushed out of the committee process in June.
Bartiromo defended McCarthy by citing as “wins” the committees the House set up to investigate the “weaponization” of the government against conservatives, China and Biden’s impeachment.
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Gaetz countered those are just process steps, not actual achievements.
“Setting up a committee is an end unto itself only in Washington, D.C. The American people demand results,” said Gaetz.
“They’ve done nothing to actually constrain the Biden government. We can set up committees, and have hearings and yell at people, but at the end of the day, if we still send the check to fund a weaponized government, having a weaponization subcommittee is little relief to the American people.”
“We’re playing patty-cake with the Bidens,” he added.
Bartiromo also accused Gaetz of carrying out a “vendetta” against McCarthy, and claimed he was actually helping Democrats.
“My vendetta is against a Washington system that allows corruption, to out the interests of lobbyists and PACs about the interests of the American people,” Gaetz responded. “Kevin McCarthy facilitates that system, and I do deeply resent that.”
Bartiromo noted that some government spending bills will be taken up individually this week, as conservatives want.
Gaetz countered that is because of those conservatives and not because of McCarthy.
“He’s been fiddling like Nero as Rome burns,” Gaetz added. “They’re doing it with a political gun to their head, and you are welcome America. We’re gonna keep making them do it.”
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