Is Matt Gaetz the true winner of the speaker’s race?
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The U.S. House of Representatives emerged last Wednesday from three weeks of Republican-induced turmoil with a new, more socially conservative speaker. And Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz — who received much of the blame for throwing Congress into disarray — is now taking the credit.
Gaetz led the successful effort to take the speaker’s gavel from Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in October by filing a motion to vacate. He was joined by seven other Republicans and the entire Democratic caucus in voting to remove McCarthy.
What followed was three weeks of gridlock that laid bare and enlarged the deep divides in the GOP conference, ending with House Republicans finally uniting last week around Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., whose record of conservative legal advocacy, as well as his role in disputing the 2020 presidential election results, made him an easy target for some Democrats and a clear victor for many Republicans.
The takeaway, according to Gaetz? “It was worth it.”
“The Swamp is on the run. MAGA is ascendent. If you don’t think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement and where the power in the Republican Party truly lies then you’re not paying attention,” Gaetz said on Steve Bannon’s “War Room.”
Gaetz, the self-described “Trumpiest Congressman,” has made the case that McCarthy’s ouster was the consequence of broken promises surrounding the annual budgeting process, specifically McCarthy’s decision to pass a short-term funding measure, a “continuing resolution,” to avoid a shutdown of “nonessential” government agencies.
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“I believe the basis for the motion to vacate is Kevin McCarthy’s repeated breach of the agreement that he made in January,” Gaetz said immediately after initiating the process to remove the former speaker. “The people are tired of seeing the ways of Washington that jam everything together in order to really frustrate actual legislating.”
However, it appears the vast majority of House Republicans, including Utah’s three congressmen, see the disruption spearheaded by Gaetz as a dangerous delay in negotiations over next year’s budget and aid for Israel.
“As I’ve stated before, Rep. Gaetz had a personal vendetta against Speaker McCarthy, and it’s no surprise to anyone in Congress that he would take credit for any speaker option after McCarthy,” Rep. Blake Moore told the Deseret News on Monday. “What he is responsible for is a pointless 3-week delay in the appropriations process.”
Utahns are similarly skeptical.
What do Utahns think about McCarthy’s removal?
While October’s speaker’s race didn’t break into the newsfeed of every Utahn, more disapproved of McCarthy’s removal than approved of it, according to a new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll.
Nearly 4 in 10 Utahns thought ousting McCarthy was a bad idea, the poll found, while just over a third approved of the shakeup of House leadership, and 3 in 10 weren’t sure either way.
The poll was conducted Oct. 12-23 — a week after McCarthy was booted and two days before Johnson was elected — among 802 Utah residents and has a margin of error of 3.46%. Surprisingly, it revealed more disagreement within parties than across party lines.
Republicans and Democrats were evenly split on how they felt about McCarthy’s removal, with 35% of Republicans approving, 39% disapproving and 25% saying “Don’t know,” while 42% of Democrats said they approved, 40% disapproved and 10% didn’t know.
Even those who self-identified as “very conservative” weren’t overly enthusiastic about Gaetz’ plan: 43% approved of McCarthy’s removal, 36% disapproved and 21% didn’t know. “Somewhat conservatives” were more bearish, with 29% approving, 41% disapproving and 30% saying they didn’t know.
But “moderates” were the most displeased of all with the GOP infighting, the poll showed. Almost 50% of Utah’s political centrists disapproved, while 20% approved and 31% didn’t know.
What have Utah’s congressmen said about Gaetz?
Utah’s congressmen have repeatedly expressed anger toward Gaetz for forcing the House into weeks of bitter argumentation.
“Matt Gaetz and seven other members put our ability to hold the line against the Biden administration’s out-of-control agenda in jeopardy by working with Democrats to oust our Republican speaker instead of moving forward with votes on our conservative policies and appropriations bills,” Moore, who represents Utah’s 1st Congressional District, told the Deseret News in a written statement following McCarthy’s removal.
“Today’s vote was not about Kevin McCarthy’s performance as speaker or disagreement over the House Republican agenda. Today’s vote was about Matt Gaetz and his insatiable desire for attention.”
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While Gaetz said “the whole goal” behind his tactics was “to get to single-subject spending bills” and break the hold of “K-Street” lobbyists on the House, Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah’s 4th Congressional District, agreed with Moore, also attributing Gaetz’ actions to a “personal vendetta” against McCarthy, as did Rep. John Curtis of Utah’s 3rd Congressional District.
“The real problem with Kevin was not necessarily the continuing resolution or the debt ceiling deal but there were some fundamentally flawed relationships and so I think the continuing resolution became the vehicle to express the mistrust and the anger that was there,” Curtis told the Deseret News last week.
All three Utah lawmakers have signaled their support for Johnson. Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee has gone as far as implying that Johnson is an improvement over McCarthy, saying the new speaker will hold his ground on spending cuts in a way his predecessor didn’t.
How to prevent a ‘McCarthy 2.0’
Amid simmering frustration over Gaetz’ ability to grind congressional proceedings to a halt, a growing number of Republicans have called for a reversal of a rule change from January’s speaker’s race that lowered the threshold needed to call a vote on the speaker to just one member.
“The ability for one person to vacate the speaker of the House will keep a chokehold on this body through 2024,” said the Republican House Main Street Caucus, of which Curtis is a member, in a statement given to Fox News in October. “Any candidate for speaker must explain to us how what happened Tuesday never happens again.”
Johnson said in an interview with Fox News personality Sean Hannity on Thursday that he thinks the rule will be changed under his leadership. Ohio Republican Rep. Max Miller has already introduced a new resolution that would increase the number needed to file a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair from one member of the House to 112, according to Punchbowl News.
However, it’s uncertain when — or whether — Miller’s resolution will be brought to the floor for a vote. House members face a packed schedule over the next two weeks, especially as they approach the Nov. 17 deadline for a government shutdown unless appropriations bills are in place, or another continuing resolution has cleared both chambers.
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