Rep Gaetz Reacts After McCarthy Ousted as House Speaker

On this vote, the yeas are 216, the nays are 210. The resolution is adopted. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The office of Speaker of the House of the United States House of Representatives is hereby declared vacant. When I talked with you yesterday, before you introduced the motion, you didn't sound confident that you would have how you do. What does that tell you about work? What it tells me is that you're very poor at reading confidence. You said you thought you were going to succeed already. You have catalyzed the House of Representatives today. To whose benefit? People have called you a narcissist. People say this to your benefit alone. Is it to the benefit of you and to Donald Trump? It's the benefit of this country that we have a better Speaker of the House than Kevin McCarthy. Kevin McCarthy couldn't keep his word. He made an agreement in January regarding the way Washington would work, and he violated that agreement. We are $33 trillion in debt. We are facing $2.2 trillion annual deficits. We face a de-dollarization globally that will crush Americans, working-class Americans. Kevin McCarthy is a feature of the swamp. He has risen to power by collecting special interest money and redistributing that money in exchange for favors. We are breaking the fever now, and we should elect a Speaker who's better. You said last night that Steve Scalise was a name that you floated to potentially be Speaker. Where do things stand right now? If not McCarthy, then who? Well, you know, the stages of grief I think are in progress right now with some of my colleagues. I think there was a stage of denial, and I've certainly experienced a good amount of their anger, and now we appear to be headed toward bargaining. I think the world is Steve Scalise. I think he'd make a phenomenal Speaker. Congressman Gates, at this point, do you think that the Speaker should be expelled? I'm afraid of $33 trillion in debt crushing the working people in my district. I'm afraid of the dollar losing its status as the global reserve currency. If they want to expel me, let me know when they have the vote. Congressman Gates, at this point, Congressman Gates, at this point, you've got less than 45 days left before you have to pass a budget, which is something that you've been wanting to do. Doesn't this just completely paralyze the House? I mean, we could see 15 more rounds. I don't think we will. I think Kevin McCarthy should take a hint. After 15 ballots to become Speaker, after eight months of a failed Speakership, and after removal in this historic manner, I think we should move on and find somebody else. What's paralyzed the House of Representatives has been the failure of Speaker McCarthy. What paralyzed the House of Representatives was not taking up appropriations bills. We left for a six-week vacation while the appropriations process hung in the balance, and because I forced these people to take a few votes, you think I'm paralyzing the House of Representatives? I think the House of Representatives has been paralyzed for the last several decades as we've refused to pass a budget as we've governed by continuing resolution and omnibus bill. So I think that this represents the ripping off of the Band-Aid, and that's what we need to do to get back on track. Congressman Gates, what do you say to your colleagues who argue you don't have another name right now, you don't have someone else who could get 218 votes? What do you tell those colleagues? Well, I would tell them that for certain, Kevin McCarthy can't get 218 votes, so let's try the next person. Would you be okay with McHenry? There would have to be a real meeting of the minds there. I'm sorry, you've had a question. Are you going to ask for a guarantee from whoever is floated as a candidate for the next speaker for them to actually move the appropriations process along in a speed that satisfies you? Yes. Congressman, at this point, would you be putting yourself forward for the speakship? Absolutely not. I have no desire to be speaker. What prerequisites will you have on that? What's your question? I know we've already asked about names, but what about Emmer and others? I think the world's a Tom Emmer. He'd make a great speaker. I've spoken with him, but I'll probably keep our conversations between us. Congressman, what was going through your head when the vote dabbled down? Esha McCarthy wasn't speaker. Ms. Mace, she has different views than I do on a variety of subjects, but what we had in common, Kevin McCarthy lied to all of us. Congressman, hold on a second. You're saying that nobody trusts Kevin McCarthy, but you're talking about, including yourself, about seven Republicans compared to about 200 Republicans who actually do trust him. Can you explain that? As it turns out, getting 200 Republicans to trust you isn't enough to stay speaker. Congressman, at this point, would you require that any— —former President Trump about this since the ousting? Was he supportive of what you were doing? I have spoken to President Trump over the last several days. The ousting only occurred several minutes ago, so we haven't spoken during that time. Congressman, at this point, are you going to require that any speaker— —didn't think this was a good idea. He didn't want to see Republicans fighting with other Republicans. How do you respond to the former president? I would say that my conversations with the former president leave me with great confidence that I'm doing the right thing. Did the former president call you today? What's your message to Americans who are concerned about the future of the conservative agenda in the House GOP? I would say that the conservative agenda was being paralyzed by Speaker McCarthy. We hadn't even sent a subpoena to Hunter Biden. Our oversight was lackluster. Our spending priorities were misaligned. The top-line budget was going to lead to more inflation, more debt, more challenges. So the best way to advance the conservative agenda is to move forward with a new speaker. Are you going to require that any future speaker elected allows the motion to vacate to stay at a one-person threshold? Yes. What other demands will you have on a future speaker? Considering that Steve Scalise votes in line with Speaker McCarthy most of the time, why should he want the job after this just happened? That's a question for him, I guess, not me. He's already said he's uninterested. I haven't heard him say that. Well, here's what I would say. I think a lot of members are going to reflect on their thinking after this historic moment. I think anything that people have said before the McCarthy ouster is probably bearing less weight than the way people may be thinking about these questions after the McCarthy ouster. Mr. Gates, you had some positive comments about Steve Scalise yesterday and today. Will you yourself nominate Steve Scalise for Speaker of the House? Maybe. I want to hear from him. I'm not here to make a judgment on where Mr. Scalise stands with his rehabilitation and recovery. I would give him the deference to be able to decide whether or not he'd like to put himself forward as a candidate, but he'd be the type of person that I could see myself supporting. There are many people, though. I could see myself supporting Tom Emmer. I could see myself supporting Mike Johnson of Louisiana. I could see myself supporting Jody Arrington of Texas. I could see myself supporting Kevin Hurley of Oklahoma. And there are even people outside of the United States Congress, like Lee Zeldin, who are well thought of across every aspect of our conference, and I may give Lee Zeldin a call and see if he's interested in that gig. Congressman Gates, you've succeeded in pushing the House to move forward with the appropriations process as you wanted. Thank you for that acknowledgement, because I just heard on the floor a bunch of these McCarthy allies say, well, gosh, it's Kevin McCarthy who led us to this moment with single-subject appropriations bills, and, in fact, the only work we've gotten done has been with a political gun to the Speaker's head. So you've gotten that accomplished. The former Speaker, I should say. What's next? Well, next we've got to elect a new Speaker. Sorry, guys, I'm in a hurry. How long do you think it's going to take? Are you ready for a governor of Florida in 2026? No. Excuse me. If nobody you support can get to a