Matt Gaetz revels in his slackerdom while other House speaker vote rebels assume flashier roles: 'I'm making back benching great again'
- Rep. Matt Gaetz was one of 20 House Republicans who challenged Kevin McCarthy's speaker bid.
- Other vote holdouts have since been rewarded with better committee assignments and leadership gigs.
Anyone expecting Rep. Matt Gaetz to be brokenhearted about not scoring any higher-profile posts after kneecapping Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier this month must not get what the Florida Republican is all about.
"I'm making back benching great again," said Gaetz, a self-satisfied grin stretching across his face as he delivered the Trumpy quip, when asked about his seemingly stagnant workload.
While many of the 19 other conservative Republicans who dragged out the House GOP leadership fight wound up with plum committee assignments and leadership roles, Capitol Hill watchers estimate that the scandal-plagued Florida Republican has, at least so far, stuck to reinventing himself after spending two years fending off sex trafficking allegations.
Earlier this week McCarthy named the 12 House Republicans spearheading a new "weaponization of federal government" subcommittee that was one of Gaetz's top priorities during the speaker vote negotiations. While fellow holdout Rep. Chip Roy of Texas made the cut, Gaetz is not in the mix.
Roy, a former chief of staff to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, was handed a seat on the powerful House Rules Committee as well. From his new perch Roy can sway what legislation reaches the floor and, if he garners enough support, effectively nuke some bills by allowing poison pill amendments to be introduced during floor debate.
When asked if that was a career disappointment, Gaetz shot back "absolutely not."
"We've got some of our best members on that committee," Gaetz told Insider at the US Capitol, hailing the political savvy of designees like Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan and Obama era congressional inquisitor Rep. Darrell Issa of California.
"It's our A team. I'm gonna be their biggest cheerleader," Gaetz said between House votes.
Jordan and other House Republicans are already stepping all over each other to chip away at President Joe Biden's reelection prospects ahead of the 2024 election.
Gaetz, who already serves on Judiciary and the House Armed Services Committee, said he expects to be "real busy" on both of those fronts, but didn't elaborate on how he might contribute to those efforts. He did not get promoted to subcommittee chair on either of those panels this term.
Rep. Bryon Donalds, who flipped from a McCarthy supporter to a challenger and then finally back again, is seeing his power increase. Donalds' opposition went even further than Gaetz's, with the fellow Florida Republican briefly a candidate against McCarthy during the speakership race. Donalds will now have a seat on the powerful GOP steering committee, which helps dole out committee assignments to the rest of the conference. McCarthy made Donalds his emissary to the panel.
Even Rep. Lauren Boebert, a far-right Republican who also refused to back McCarthy by name through the final 15th ballot, isn't walking away empty-handed. She'll be on the House Oversight Committee, the premiere panel for all things related to investigations of the Biden administration.
As one GOP strategist told Insider earlier this month about Gaetz: "I don't think this guy's looking to be a policymaker."
For now, dodging any new responsibilities frees up Gaetz to skewer political opponents on right-wing talk shows and spend more time getting to know deceiver-in-chief Rep. George Santos.