Rep. Gaetz Accuses House of Attempting to Rectify McCarthy’s ‘Failures,’ Tells Newsmax

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., told Newsmax Friday that House Republicans are racing against the clock on the budget crisis to “correct” the “failures” of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., whom he’s been openly critical of for some time.

“The issue is Kevin McCarthy purposefully backed us up against the wall where government funding was running out, and we hadn’t passed single-subject spending bills,” Gaetz said during an appearance on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.” “So, we’re now trying to do work to correct the failures of Kevin McCarthy. Thursday at 3 p.m., while we’re here trying to hammer this stuff out, Kevin McCarthy sent everyone home. This is not the French work week. We’ve got only a few legislative days left before the country runs out of money and you’ve got Kevin McCarthy quite literally punting while we’re trying to move the ball forward. So, I give him no credit for this movement. It has happened in spite of him, not because of him, and we’re going to have to address his leadership after we get through this government funding crisis.”

Asked why he doesn’t run for the speakership himself, Gaetz replied, “Mostly because I would not have the requisite support.”

“I don’t have anywhere near the votes it would take to be speaker of the House,” he said. “But even though Kevin McCarthy is not doing a good job, and it’s really got us behind schedule and has mismanaged the institution, I am very heartened by some of the work that’s been done just in the last 36 hours, where moderate Republicans are sitting down with conservative Republicans, like myself, and we’re building a path forward.”

Here’s what it looks like: reviewing single-subject spending bills where agencies of government have to stand before us and defend their budget without all being lumped together,” he continued. “Since 1997, this country has been governed by either a continuing resolution or an omnibus bill, and what those two things have in common is that every disparate agency that’s in government is subjected to just one up or down vote to fund the whole thing or not fund the whole thing. That is unserious, we have moved away from that, and it is to the great credit of people like New York Congressman Marc Molinaro and others.”

The Florida congressman also shot down reports that he’s planning to run for governor of his home state in 2026.

“This is ridiculous,” he said. “We have a job to do right now. Every politician’s always worried about the next thing to run for. I have no plans to run for governor. I’m not making any plans to run for governor. I have plans to try to get the House of Representatives, where I currently work, to do what it has not done since 1997 and that is actually abide by the appropriations process, pass single-subject spending bills, get votes on term limits and balanced budgets.”

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