Matt Gaetz Issues Warning to Congress After Jordan Steps Back: 'I Don't Support Bud Light'
After Republican Rep. Jim Jordan failed a second time to gain the 217 votes needed to win the speakership in the House, he suggested putting a third vote on hold.
In the meantime, he’s endorsed the idea of expanding Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry’s powers on a temporary basis to allow some of the work of the House to continue until someone can garner the votes to win the chair.
However, the man who started all this by siding with House Democrats to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy isn’t at all happy with that idea.
In a video posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, by CSPAN, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz called the idea Jordan endorsed a “constitutional desecration.”
“I’m against speaker-lite,” Gaetz told a reporter when asked about granting McHenry additional powers. “I’m against Bud Lite. I believe it is a constitutional desecration to not elect a speaker of the House. We need to stay here until we elect a speaker. And if someone can’t get the votes, we need to go on to the next person.
“But twisting and torturing the Constitution to empower a temporary speaker is having a speaker-lite that is not constitutionally contemplated, is deeply infirm,” he added, “and I will do everything in my power to stop it.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on resolution to empower Speaker Pro Tempore McHenry: “I am against speaker-light, I am against Bud Light, I believe it is a constitutional desecration not to elect a speaker of the House” and continued to say he would do anything in his power to stop it. pic.twitter.com/qd8smDIWuZ
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 19, 2023
Jordan said Thursday that he would support granting McHenry additional powers on a temporary basis, a move that would allow him to remain the Republican speaker “designee” while he tries to whip the votes needed to actually put him in the role, ABC News reported.
Gaetz, however, is far from alone in his opposition to such a move, according to The Hill.
The outlet listed three Republicans — Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Pat Fallon of Texas and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania — who were already voicing their disagreement with the proposal.
“Oh, hell no. Hades no,” Fallon told reporters, according to The Hill
McHenry, who voted for Jordan on both ballots and has consistently resisted the idea of becoming speaker, would be granted most of the same powers a regularly elected speaker would enjoy, but he would not be in the line of presidential succession as the speaker normally would.
He’d also only hold the role for a designated period of time, probably 90 days.
Even so, the divided House Republicans would almost certainly need some Democratic members to vote for McHenry.
What those Democrats would demand in return is anybody’s guess.
“We’re looking for ways to reopen the government and get bipartisan bills to the floor. So the balls in their court. This is their civil war. They’re the majority. They have to elect the speaker. We hope that they will come to us now that there have been two votes, and Jim Jordan has been unable to put it together and find that bipartisanship,” House Minority Whip Katherine Clark told reporters after leaving a conference meeting. “Our unity is our strength.”
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