House Republican Rips Gaetz’s ‘Personal’ Grudge Against McCarthy: ‘A Waste Of Time’

Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) had strong words for Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) over the latter’s threat to attempt to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

McCarthy brokered a last-minute deal over the weekend to avert a government shutdown in which more Democrats voted for a short-term funding bill than Republicans. The legislation buys the House 45 additional days while it works on longer-term funding bills that can gain the approval of the Senate and President Joe Biden.

In response, Gaetz teased a motion to vacate the chair, which would trigger a vote of the House on whether to remove McCarthy as speaker.

“Let me ask you a little bit about what Congressman Gaetz wanted to do,” Fox News host Neil Cavuto told Smith on Monday’s Your World. “He wants the speaker to go, and he says he has quite a few who agree with him. Where is that going?”

“You know, Neil, It’s a waste of time,” the lawmaker said of his fellow Republican’s efforts. “The only way that Matt Gaetz could be successful at a motion to vacate to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker is if more than 200 Democrats join with him.”

Cavuto asked if Gaetz simply has an axe to grind with McCarthy.

“So in your view, this is just a grudge thing?” he inquired.

“It is absolutely personal,” Smith answered. “It is unacceptable. We have a lot of work to do for the American people. He has claimed that the reason he would do it is because Kevin McCarthy didn’t fulfill his promise of passing all 12 appropriation bills by October 1. Guess what. We passed 70% of all the funding for government. We still have the 30% to go.”

He concluded, “If Matt does the motion to vacate, it’s only going to stall the tactics in order to fund government.”

Watch above via Fox News.