Rebellious Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) now appears to be running the show in the House of Representatives.
Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman reports that Gaetz, shortly after helping tank House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's latest attempt to fund the United States military, emerged from a meeting and advocated a new plan of "pausing consideration of the Pentagon spending bill and moving to bills that cut spending. He mentioned: State-Foreign Ops, Agriculture, Energy and Water."
While it's unsure whether this approach would work better than the approaches McCarthy has tried so far, Sherman has gone on to report that it is gaining steam within the caucus.
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
"This is now the strategy," Sherman writes. "They’re going to bring up individual [appropriations] bills next week, per lawmakers who just met with Speaker McCarthy. Matt Gaetz's strategy is now House GOP's plan."
Any Republican bills that post deep spending cuts are dead on arrival in the United States Senate, where Democrats hold a majority.
McCarthy currently has just ten days to avert a government shutdown and so far he can't even get his party to pass bills to fund the United States military.
McCarthy could in theory try to pass a bipartisan deal to keep the government open, but that would almost certainly lead to GOP hardliners voting to oust him from the speakership.
