Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said he will bring a motion to vacate the chair if House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) brings a temporary spending bill without cuts to the floor, and will try again if the motion fails.
On a press call with reporters, Gaetz claimed that McCarthy had not fulfilled the promises he made to 20 GOP holdouts back in January, and he intends to ensure McCarthy keeps his promise by holding the motion to vacate over his head.
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“We're either going to get compliance, or we're going to start having votes on motions to vacate and we're gonna have it regularly,” Gaetz said. “I don't anticipate them passing immediately. But if we have to begin every single day in Congress with the prayer, the pledge, and the motion to vacate, then so be it.”
He said that if McCarthy were to bring a clean continuing resolution to the floor, which is a stop-gap measure to fund the government at the previous year's spending levels without policies attached to it, that would constitute a motion to vacate.
“If Kevin McCarthy puts a continuing resolution on the floor, it's going to be shot, chaser. Continuing resolution, motion to vacate. So yes, this month is quite dispositive,” he said.
As he did on Monday, McCarthy brushed off Gaetz’s comments, saying the Florida Republican can “threaten all he wants.”
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But, Gaetz’s demands complicate the government funding battle. McCarthy has said he expects a continuing resolution to be necessary in order to keep the government funded while the House and Senate continue to iron out their differences on spending. Though this continuing resolution is not expected to be a "clean continuing resolution," it would likely have policies attached to it that House Republicans want. The House also has 11 appropriations bills remaining; one, the Department of Defense appropriations bill, is expected to be voted on this week.
But, with all the work the House has to do to pass their bills, and how far apart the two chambers are on spending levels, it is unlikely that they will reach an agreement before the Sept. 30 deadline. So a continuing resolution will be necessary to avoid a government shutdown.