The idea of a government shutdown is something that other nations view as something purely unique to the United States and occurs only in the most extreme circumstances. For the United States, it might occur because of gridlock on Capitol Hill between Republicans and Democrats. However, outright contrasting the circumstances that require a shutdown in the United States, a shutdown in nations like the United Kingdom is typically because of actions like when the Prime Minister is removed due to a vote of no confidence. The difference is clear and makes a strong statement: the United States has a failing system that goes to extremes when simple measures fail.
With a deadline of Sept. 30 at midnight, if Congress had failed to deliver to President Joe Biden’s desk the 12 appropriation bills that set discretionary spending levels, the United States would have experienced a government shutdown.
If it occurred, all non-essential staffers and federal employees would be temporarily out of a job. However, it is the Republican infighting over government spending and allocation of federal funds that are unique to this scenario in September and differs from previous shutdowns.
Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) led the band of rebel Republican lawmakers that firmly told former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) “No” to any plan of a stopgap bill that would have allocated federal funds or resources to any entity that was not in America’s best interest or bills that would have extended this issue into further deadlines down the road. Gaetz was quoted as saying that Speaker McCarthy “brought us to this moment.”
With specific and highly controversial inclusions in the appropriations package that outlined further financial aid to the Ukrainian people after a previous $75 billion-dollar package and military equipment, alongside a lack of government spending cuts, Gaetz openly criticized McCarthy for failing to adhere to agreements that were made to hand McCarthy the gavel in this year’s earlier battle for the speakership. The issues with the federal government’s spending through appropriation bills were the tipping point for Gaetz, and the result of the debate on appropriations is demonstrative of the priorities of politics of the moment.
Though the shutdown was averted with Democrat support in both the Senate and House, with Biden ultimately signing off on the measures to avert the shutdown, Gaetz vowed to remove McCarthy from office for failing to keep promises that he had made in regard to government spending.
Keeping to this position, Gaetz alongside eight other Republican lawmakers ousted McCarthy from the office of Speaker of the House on Oct. 3, making McCarthy the first speaker in United States history to have been removed from office. Ultimately, though, it was McCarthy who did himself in as he had restored a previous longstanding measure as a result of the January deal with Gaetz. This measure made it so that any one member of the house could call for the Speakership to be declared vacant and force a vote on the fate of the speakership.
With one mess of a shutdown being replaced with an ongoing battle for the gavel, Democrats hope to place Hakeem Jeffries as speaker. In contrast, Republicans like Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) or Steve Scalise (R-La), who possess mere name recognition and legislative accomplishments, are the more likely candidates to hold the gavel after the vote to replace McCarthy occurs on Tuesday, Oct. 10.
The main message coming from the issue of the government shutdown isn’t that the government is working, but that Republicans, through McCarthy’s carelessness in his path to become speaker, have created a dire weakness in the party.
Just imagine a nation where one person could stand up and call for a measure to remove Biden from office because of one of Biden’s many gaffes or legislative failures. Further, imagine if 50% of the nation who were Republicans agreed to the measure, plus roughly 2% of the nation who identify as Democrats. Would we call ourselves a constitutional republic or a banana republic? The correct term for this circumstance is guided misdirection due to partisanship.
This is the point to be made. The issues over the appropriation bills were never about legislating according to what Republicans campaigned and won on. It was never about Republicans reforming the government of late and instituting conservative values of limited government or sensible spending. It was about Gaetz flexing the power he decisively implemented earlier this year. He didn’t care about whether the government shut down. He wanted to be the biggest fly in the Democrats’, Republicans’ and McCarthy’s faces.
The issues facing America are significant at the moment as it is. The United States is $33 billion in debt. The U.S. southern border is open, and states like my home state of Arizona are experiencing the most significant issue of illegal immigration in United States history. But no, let’s not hold Congress in contempt so they can focus on the issues that require immediate action so that the modern idea of manifest destiny doesn’t die. The American dream becomes more distant than it already is when we focus on other trivial issues.
Instead of focusing on issues that Republicans are waving red flags on, Gaetz has let partisan issues and grudges force many Americans to question whether they will need to find a job in the short term should a shutdown occur. He has delivered chaos.
Gaetz was wrong in directing the Freedom Caucus to hold our government ransom. However, he did make a point. If Republicans hold control of the House of Representatives, they should govern and act like they do. They shouldn’t always be trekking over to Democrats, begging for votes to bail them out of issues presented by Republicans yet cannot be resolved by Republicans. That implies weakness.
Instead, Republicans should do what Democrats have demonstrated and seemingly perfected: rally their caucus and tow the party line. Gaetz is a liability to the Republican Party, Congress and our nation’s sense of security.
Michael Duke, GSB ’26, is undecided from Scottsdale, Ariz.
