Gaetz refuses to be held responsible for impending shutdown
On September 24, Florida's most-outspoken and occasionally controversial Republican - Congressman Matt Gaetz - was one of a number of politicians to appear on Fox News with host Maria Bartiromo.
The main topic of discussion was the ongoing failure of the House of Representatives to agree a government funding bill.
After Bartiromo flippantly introduced Gaetz as one of those responsible for holding up progress, he let her know exactly what he thought :
Responding to Bartiromo's introduction, Gaetz let-loose on the many failings he believes have led to where the funding bill is at present - no closer to a resolution of the various disagreements amongst House Republicans and with the prospect of a government shutdown looming ever closer.
As Gaetz put it:
"If you're saying that I'm standing in the way of all the Republican wins, I'd love you to enumerate them."
Gaetz went on to pick apart the comments made by the previous guest on Bartiromo's show, Republican Jim Jordan:
"He started by saying we should only pick one fight - the border - but then as the interview went on he said we should pick a second fight - Jack Smith. By the time the interview ran out he was saying we shouldn't be funding Ukraine without a plan, yet the very continuing resolution that you and Jim Jordan seem to be for, continues to have $300 million more for Ukraine."
Frustration and division amongst Republicans.
The frustration felt by Gaetz was clear, and it's very obvious that the emerging fractures within the Republican party are growing and multiplying as time goes on.
Last week, New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pointed to "chaos vibes" prevailing within the GOP, and it's quite obvious that these vibes continue to exist as the House of Representatives enters its last few days of being able to avoid a shutdown.
At the conclusion of his rant, it was quite clear that Gaetz is not in the mood to be accused of blocking anything at all, but he has also been open about his reasons for refusing to approve a continuing resolution merely to buy more time and avoid a shutdown by simply allowing government to do more of the same.
Gaetz is clear who he blames
While Maria Bartiromo may have felt inclined to blame Florida's Matt Gaetz as at least partly responsible for the impending threat of a government shutdown, it's obvious who Gaetz himself holds responsible; Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy.
Gaetz has made no secret of the fact that he feels that McCarthy holds much of the responsibility for the lack of progress made by the House of Representatives this year, and has been a repeated critic of him professionally, as well as belittling him with personal insults too.
Most recently he called-out McCarthy for calling for members of the House of Representatives to go home for the weekend at 3pm on Thursday last week, when they could have been working for another day to try and break the funding deadlock.
Against this backdrop, it may just be a little more apparent why Gaetz feels so aggrieved to have been accused of holding up the funding bill.
Do you think that Florida's Matt Gaetz is right to be so outraged at being accused of blocking the funding bill? Should he and the other politicians within the House of Representatives be working more cooperatively to find a solution? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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