In contrast to the opinions for Utah’s representatives in the U.S. House, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) has issued a statement commenting favorably on the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-UT) (Image courtesy of Facebook).
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Once again, Utah’s Sen. Mike Lee has broken with the opinions of his congressional colleagues from the Beehive State over the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
While the unprecedented act by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, Oct. 2 was loudly condemned by Utah congressmen in that chamber, Lee issued a statement saying that he looked forward to new House leadership.
In that statement, Lee said that ongoing chaos in the House was merely its members determining the best leadership for the future.
“I look forward to working with the next speaker and my Republican colleagues to secure the border, stop wasteful government spending, skyrocketing debt and rescue American families from the Biden administration’s disastrous economic policies.”
Lee’s uncharacteristically mild response to the abrupt dethroning of McCarthy was in stark contrast to the opinions of Utah’s other elected representatives.
On Tuesday, just three days after McCarthy engineered a continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded until Nov. 17, the House removed the California Republican from the speakership by a mostly partisan vote to 216 to 210.
“Today’s vote was not about Kevin McCarthy’s performance as speaker or disagreement over the House Republican agenda,” U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) said after that vote, the first time ever that a House Speaker has been removed from that position.
Today’s vote was about (U.S. Rep.) Matt Gaetz and his insatiable desire for attention.”
The Florida Republican has been a thorn in the side of McCarthy since he was elected to the disputed post of speaker of the House in January. Following the approval of the stopgap funding measure over the weekend, Gaetz joined with seven other Republican representatives and the entire Democratic caucus in House to oust McCarthy.
Ironically, Gaetz’s chief justification for McCarthy’s removal was that the former speaker had formed a similar alliance with Democrats to pass the government spending measure over the weekend.
“Matt Gaetz and seven other members put our ability to hold the line against the Biden administration’s out-of-control agenda in jeopardy,” Moore added in his statement, “by working with Democrats to oust our Republican speaker instead of moving forward with votes on our conservative policies and appropriations bills.”
Utah’s other congressmen – Representatives John Curtis and Burgess Owens – voiced similar support for McCarthy and criticism of Gaetz.
Gaetz has been among McCarthy’s severest critics in Congress.
But Moore contends that Gaetz and several other House members have sided with Democrats over the past year to block spending cuts and further other liberal priorities.
Other Republicans who joined Gaetz in voting to oust McCarthy were Representatives Andy Biggs and Eli Crane of Arizona; Ken Buck of Colorado; Nancy Mace of South Carolina; Tim Burchett of Tennessee; Bob Good of Virginia; and Matt Rosendale of Montana.
Most of those opponents of McCarthy are members of the Freedom Caucus in Congress.
Formed in January of 2015, the Freedom Caucus consists of staunch conservatives and former Tea Party members who are united in the aim of pushing Republican leadership in Congress to the right.
The group champions hard-line conservative positions and favors small government. Most of its members advocated for the government shutdown on Oct. 1.
When that shutdown was averted over the weekend, Lee was alone in his criticism of that process, while Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) joined Curtis, Moore and Owens in support of the continuing resolution.
With a protracted battle over the speakership in the House now looming, that disruption seems certain to threaten the ability of Congress to pass all the appropriations bills necessary to fund government operations after the continuing resolution expires on Nov. 17.