Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., took a shot Tuesday at House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, challenging him to commit to his fellow Republicans during battles in the lower chamber.
Appearing alongside Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., on Stephen K. Bannon's "War Room" podcast, Gaetz made a colorful analogy when criticizing McCarthy for his debt ceiling deal.
"McCarthy has to decide, who's his coalition partner going to be? [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries [D-N.Y.], or us?" Gaetz said. "We're going to force him into a monogamous relationship with one or the other."
Gatez added: "What we're not going to do is hang out with him for five months and then watch him jump in the back seat with Hakeem Jeffries and sell the nation out."
Gaetz also accused McCarthy of exceeding his authority when he avoided consulting more conservative conference members before agreeing to the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 with President Joe Biden.
Gaetz, one of the agreement's earliest opponents, split with some of his allies, like Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., when he voted against the bill over the weekend.
"Taking a 99% continuing resolution off of current spending levels is giving the Democrats a massive win," Gaetz said of a provision that would divide appropriations into 12 bills or pass a CR that shaves off 1% from the previous year.
"That would be like me gaining 50 pounds and saying, 'That's OK because I'm going to take a walk to the ice cream store on the following day,'" he said.
Gaetz has since joined a group of lawmakers who blocked a proposed rule change affecting four bills related to gas stoves and regulatory reform in retaliation to McCarthy's alleged treatment of more conservative members.
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