Newt Gingrich, a Republican from Georgia, was speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999.
On Wednesday, October 4, 2023 at 04:23:33 PM GMT+5, Chas Freeman via Salon <salon@listserve.com> wrote:
Opinion Newt Gingrich: Republicans must expel Matt Gaetz
Gaetz obviously hates House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — and that’s fine. If Gaetz were simply a loudmouthed junior member who attacked McCarthy every day, that would be fine, too. He would just be isolated with a small group of lawmakers who can’t figure out how to get things done. They’d huddle together seeking warmth and reassurance from their fellow incompetents.
But Gaetz has gone beyond regular drama. He is destroying the House GOP’s ability to govern and draw a sharp contrast with the policy disasters of the Biden administration.
Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), a liberal Democrat with whom I disagree on almost everything, perfectly captured Gaetz’s childish behavior in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. Gaetz “has no sway” or influence in Congress, Pelosi said, “except to get on TV and to raise money on the internet.” Pelosi told Tapper he was “wasting [his] time on that guy.”
This week, McCarthy and House Republicans should be focused on cutting spending in appropriations bills. Republicans should be focused on advancing their impeachment inquiry into President Biden. They should be pursuing and amplifying immigration policy changes to address the wildly out-of-control southern border.
Instead of taking these positive steps — which would help move the conservative agenda forward — Gaetz has been egocentrically going from TV show to TV show and attacking his own party by repeatedly threatening to bring a motion to oust McCarthy as speaker, which he did late Monday.
Furthermore, Gaetz is violating the House Republican Conference rule that states the motion to vacate “should only be available with the agreement of the Republican Conference so as to not allow Democrats to choose the Speaker.” The agreement made when McCarthy became speaker doesn’t supersede the conference rules. Gaetz still needs a majority of the conference.
Gaetz knows he can’t possibly get a majority of the House GOP conference to his side. He is simply violating the rules in the pursuit of personal attention and fundraising — just like Pelosi said.
I served 20 years in the House, including four as speaker. On occasion, I fought against the GOP establishment. I led the fight against President George H.W. Bush’s 1990 tax increase after he had broken his word about “no new taxes.” I felt bound to stay with my commitment to the American voters.
Unlike Gaetz, though, when I rebelled, I represented the majority view of the caucus at the time.
Gaetz’s motion to remove McCarthy should have been swiftly defeated, but it wasn’t; he should still be expelled from the House Republican Conference. House Republicans have far more important things to do than entertain one member’s ego.
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