Trumpist, Matt Gaetz, moves to remove US House leader Kevin McCarthy
Washington, Oct. 2 (EFE) – Trumpist congressman Matt Gaetz said on Monday he would propose that the US House of Representatives leader, fellow Republican Kevin McCarthy, be put to a vote this week.
Speaking to reporters outside the Capitol, Gaetz said he plans to bring a vote to recall McCarthy, whom he has criticized for working with Democrats to avoid a temporary government shutdown.
Gaetz added that if he does not have the votes to give the green light to remove McCarty, he will try as many times as necessary.
“It took Speaker McCarthy 15 votes to become speaker,” Gaetz said. “So until I get to the 14th or 15th, I don’t think I’m going to be any more dilatory than he was.”
Also on Monday, in a speech before the plenary session of the lower house, with a Republican majority, Gaetz directly criticized McCarthy, saying he grants all the requests of the Democratic administration.
On Sunday, the congressman told CNN that he planned to take steps to remove McCarthy after Congress avoided a government shutdown by approving a bill that extends funding for critical issues for 45 days, despite the reluctance of more radical Trumpists like Gaetz.
He also accused McCarthy of lying and making a “secret deal” with Democrats on future funding for Ukraine, which he and other Republicans opposed.
“To extend Joe Biden’s spending and Joe Biden’s policy priorities, the Speaker of the House gave Joe Biden the money for Ukraine that Joe Biden wanted,” Gaetz said Monday.
“It will be difficult for my Republican friends to continue to call President Biden weak when he continues to take Speaker McCarthy’s lunch money in every negotiation,” he added.
The agreement reached on Saturday gives the government a break. Still, it leaves the Democratic administration with several challenges, especially maintaining aid to Kyiv.
The resolution excluded Biden’s request for $24 billion in aid to Ukraine.
The Senate had reduced that funding to $6,000 million, although its final approval, by 88 votes to 9, did not include that funding.
The House of Representatives is now expected to vote on a separate bill to help that country confront the Russian invasion.
Gaetz and the other members of the so-called “Freedom Caucus,” representing the wing of Congress most sympathetic to former President Donald Trump (2017-2021), have already expressed their opposition to continued funding for the war in Ukraine.
One of the biggest criticisms of those who oppose this aid is that it gives Ukraine a blank check, with no oversight on how those funds are spent.
Biden, however, assured Sunday night that Republicans in Congress had given him their word that they would maintain their support. EFE
Aaca/mcd/ar
