House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) slammed Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-CA) over the weekend for Gaetz’s “personal” vendetta against him, saying that Gaetz was more concerned about getting in front of cameras than securing wins for conservatives.
McCarthy made the remarks in a series of interviews on Sunday after the House managed to pass a stopgap bill to keep the U.S. government running over the next 45 days.
On CBS News’ “Face The Nation” with Margaret Brennan, McCarthy said that he was confident that he will survive Gaetz’s attempts to oust him as House Speaker.
“You know, this is personal with Matt,” McCarthy said. “Matt voted against the most conservative ability to protect our border, secure our border. He’s more interested in securing TV interviews than doing something. He wanted to push us into a shutdown, even threatening his own district, with all the military people there who would not be paid, only because he wants to take this motion.”
“So be it. Bring it on,” he continued. “Let’s get over with it and let’s start governing. If he’s upset because he tried to push us in a shutdown, and I made sure government didn’t shut down, then let’s have that fight.”
McCarthy accused Gaetz of “trying to work with Democrats,” saying that he has “reached out to Swalwell, to AOC and others.”
“But if that’s the way we’re going to govern, I don’t think America is going to be successful. Look, at the end of the day, think of everything we’ve been able to accomplish so far. Parents Bill of Rights. We passed the most conservative bill to protect our border, make America energy-independent,” he concluded on the matter. “We’ve been able to cut $2 trillion, and the debt ceiling, get work requirements back in. The hard part we have right now is, the Senate has not passed one appropriation bill. Each body is supposed to pass 12. We’ve passed more than 70 percent of the discretionary spending already.”
In a separate interview on Fox News, McCarthy added: “I want to secure the border, he wants to secure interviews.”
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