Gaetz: McCarthy needs to commit to ‘monogamous relationship’ in House battles

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) says Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) needs to commit to a “monogamous relationship” with his fellow Republicans amid frustration from some conservatives over the debt ceiling deal he struck with President Biden.

“McCarthy has to decide. Who’s his coalition partner going to be? [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries [D-N.Y.] or us?” Gaetz told former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon on “War Room,” appearing with Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) in an interview that aired Tuesday, the same day the House was thrown into chaos as conservatives bucked leadership.

“We’re going to force him into a monogamous relationship with one or the other. What we’re not gonna do is hang out with him for five months and then watch him go jump in the back seat with Hakeem Jeffries and sell the nation out,” Gaetz said. 

Gaetz was among a group of Republican lawmakers who opposed the deal struck by McCarthy and Biden to raise the debt ceiling.

He was also among the House conservatives who joined Democrats on Tuesday to vote against a rule, blocking several bills from coming to the floor for a vote, a move prompted by upset over the debt limit deal. 

“We are very upset about how the debt limit deal came together. Kevin McCarthy exceeded the authority that he Had been given by the House of Representatives,” Gaetz said in the “War Room” interview. 

“The era of the imperial speakership is OVER!” he argued on Twitter.