Florida GOP congressman Matt Gaetz has indicated he will not support the debt ceiling deal negotiated between House Leader Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden.
Gaetz said that he did not “expect” the deal would get his vote in the House on Wednesday while speaking with fellow Florida GOP lawmaker Anna Paulina Luna during his guest presenting spot on Newsmax’s Greg Kelly Reports show.
During the interview, Luna explained she would not support the bill over concerns it will add $4 trillion to the current debt and is “only going to contribute to some of the problems we will have in this country,”
In response, Gaetz said: “I’m with you, Congresswoman Luna. I don’t expect that this legislation will get my vote either.”
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Gaetz added that there are “two theories” on what could happen if the bill does not get the 218 votes needed in the House.
“One is that this is such an offense that we blow the place up and send the house in a great turmoil,” he said. “The other theory of the case is that we try to re-school the fish, focus on the appropriations process upcoming and hope to get deeper cuts.”
A number of hardline GOP lawmakers such as Colorado’s Lauren Boebert, Virginia’s Bob Good and South Carolina’s Ralph Norman have already come out and said that they will not vote to support the deal McCarthy agreed upon with the White House.
“This ‘deal’ is insanity,” Norman tweeted after it was announced. “A $4T debt ceiling increase with virtually no cuts is not what we agreed to. Not gonna vote to bankrupt our country. The American people deserve better.”
Despite some Republican opposition, McCarthy told Fox News he believes that around “95 percent” of GOP lawmakers will support the deal and avoid a potentially catastrophic default.
Gaetz previously said he believes that the debt ceiling deal will eventually get bipartisan support, predicting on a May 26 Twitter Spaces livestream that the bill will pass with “about 80-100 Democrat votes and between 140-160 Republican votes.”
Gaetz added during the stream that he didn’t believe there was any “serious threat” to McCarthy’s role as House Speaker even if there is some GOP opposition to the debt ceiling deal.
Gates was one of a number of Republicans who refused to vote for McCarthy to become House Leader in January, with McCarthy only getting elected at the 15th attempt as six Republicans withheld their ballot, therefore lowering the threshold to 216.
In a recent statement to the Washington Examiner, Gaetz said he had no plans to seek the removal of McCarthy amid the debt ceiling deal vote “barring some dramatic, unexpected turn of events.”
“You don’t remove someone simply because you disagree with them. By that standard, no speaker would last a single day,” Gaetz said. “Speaker McCarthy simply must deliver on the promises he made in January. So far, his record doing so is admirable. So far.”
Gaetz’s office has been contacted via email for further comment.