Gaetz Calls on Republican Voters to Oust Murkwoski, Collins: ‘What Good’ Are They ‘If We Can’t Count on Them?’
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Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) called on Republican voters to oust Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) for their opposition to filling Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court before the election.
“If Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are going to withhold their vote for the president’s nominee, then Republicans in those states should withhold their votes from them,” Gaetz said in an interview with The Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard published on Monday. “What good are Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski if we can’t count on them to fulfill their obligation to advise and consent during the term in which they’ve been elected?”
Murkowski and Collins both said over the weekend that they opposed President Donald Trump nominating a justice to fill the court’s vacancy prior to the election, citing the fact that Republicans refused to act on Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to the court in 2016, eight months prior to that year’s presidential election.
Collins, who was first elected to the Senate in 1996, has successfully prevailed in three bids for reelection despite facing tough odds each time, partially by seeking to appeal to Democrats on issues including the Supreme Court. She was one of just a handful of Republicans to vote in favor of confirming both of former President Barack Obama’s picks for the court, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
Murkowski joined the Senate in 2002, when her father, Frank Murkowski, vacated the position to serve as governor while appointing her to fill his seat. She has been a soft vote for Republicans in the Trump era and opposed his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the court in 2018, saying he was “not the right man for the court at this time.”
In addition to whacking Collins and Murkowski, Gaetz said, Republicans made a mistake by blocking Garland’s nomination. “Republicans should have held that vote. And if they didn’t want to vote for him, they shouldn’t have voted for him. And I think there were plenty of reasons to vote against Merrick Garland. But that was a mistake then, and it puts us in a worse position now, and frank, as we engage in the type of revolution that I think we need in our politics to achieve the full value of the Trump presidency, we need to see a Senate that takes more tough votes on more things going forward.”
With respect to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Gaetz added: “The court is his legacy. So if the court is McConnell’s legacy, he sure as hell better deliver on the president’s nominee.”
