Gaetz Under Fire for Fundraising While Blocking McCarthy

Gaetz Under Fire for Fundraising While Blocking McCarthy

(UnitedVoice.com) – Drama filled the first week of the 118th Congress. Instead of Republicans and Democrats fighting one another, the House GOP found itself unable to elect a Speaker of the House for days. Now, one party member is accusing a colleague of fundraising from the chaos he created.

On Sunday, January 8, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) appeared on CBS’s “Face the Nation” and slammed Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). The congresswoman called her Republican colleague “a fraud” and told host Margaret Brennan the representative “sent out a fundraising email” every time he cast a ballot against Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for Speaker.

Gaetz was one of the leaders of a group of 20 Republicans who opposed elevating McCarthy to the leadership role of the House. When the GOP won the majority in the lower chamber, the California conservative expected he would ascend to the role; after all, he’d served as House minority leader since 2019. The Florida congressman wasn’t convinced and proceeded to vote against him 13 times. It wasn’t until Gaetz and others voted present that McCarthy was finally elected Speaker of the House in the 15th round of voting.

Mace went on to tell Brennan that McCarthy’s concessions to the party’s far-right wing worried her. The South Carolina representative has repeatedly sparred with people like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and isn’t sure the caucus will be able to pass bills to help the American people. She also told the CBS host she had “heartburn” thinking about the deals McCarthy made to get the votes he needed because he didn’t operate transparently. Still, Rep. Mace accused Gaetz of acting as hypocritically as former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (R-CA).

“That’s not what we ran on,” the Republican congresswoman said about the deals that McCarthy made behind closed doors.

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