Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is sounding off against Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina’s first move as Speaker Pro Tempore.
With chaos on the Hill over the ousting of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from his speakership role, lawmakers should be laser focused on electing new leadership.
Instead, they’re heading home.
“I do have to offer some pretty sharp criticism of the new pro tem of the House, Patrick McHenry,” Gaetz told Newsmax’s Eric Bolling. “We met tonight, and he sent us home until Tuesday of next week, Eric.
“We should be here tomorrow, working to elect a new speaker, getting onto our appropriations bills and engaging in a negotiation with the Senate to get the government funded, but instead these people have got to go home and cry for a week,” he continued. “They’ve got to go do a week of hand-wringing and bedwetting over the fact that Kevin McCarthy isn’t speaker anymore. This institution is about more than one man.”
Gaetz led a historic effort to oust his colleague from his speakership role on Tuesday in a 216-210 vote.
McHenry claimed the recess was so Democrats and Republicans could “discuss the path forward.”
But Gaetz said there’s no time to waste.
“We got to get a new Speaker and we’ve got to get leadership to understand a sense of urgency that your viewers and the American people all feel,” Gaetz added.
Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) argued, however, that the recess was necessary so tempers could cool.
“I’ll be really candid. I think if we had stayed together in the meeting last night, I think that you would have seen fists thrown,” Graves told CNN. “And I’m not being dramatic when I say that.”
He added: “There is a lot of raw emotions right now. I think it was best to let folks go back home, decompress a little bit and then come back together."
We need a new Speaker who believes in robust oversight, will send the subpoenas, and get the job done. pic.twitter.com/fw5dPh08lU
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) October 4, 2023
Despite a government shutdown being averted over the weekend, the continuing resolution expires Nov. 17.