After a federal government shutdown was avoided, Rep. Eric Swalwell blasted Gaetz and his allies as “clowns.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz is being mocked on social media after Congress on Saturday approved a temporary funding bill that President Joe Biden signed, narrowly avoiding a federal government shutdown.
After days of turmoil, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy abruptly abandoned demands for steep spending cuts from his party’s hard-right flank and joined with Democrats to pass the bill, which funds government until November 17. The package was approved by the House 335-91, with most Republicans and almost all Democrats supporting. Senate passage came by an 88-9 vote.
Among the Republican holdouts was Gaetz, an ally of former President Donald Trump. The Florida Republican rallied GOP lawmakers to resist McCarthy’s bid to become speaker in January and had threatened to call a vote to oust the speaker if he failed to meet their demands.
McCarthy is “on some tenuous ground,” Gaetz told reporters on Saturday, but he has not announced a motion to oust the speaker.
