Matt Gaetz Torches Democrat Who Tells Him to Retire During His Speech on Term Limits
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida shut down a Democrat who suggested the 41-year-old should retire if he’s so committed to imposing term limits on House members.
The incident unfolded Thursday as the House Judiciary Committee voted on term limits — a proposal Gaetz has staunchly advocated, citing the need to drain the stale D.C. swamp.
The 41-year-old attorney pointed out that Americans overwhelmingly support congressional term limits, while many lawmakers oppose the idea because they want to protect their own job security at the expense of public consensus.
“What even the opponents of term limits must acknowledge is that term limits are wildly popular in every zip code in America except 202 — the Washington, D.C. zip code,” he said.
For reference, 202 is the D.C. area code, not zip, but Gaetz made his point despite the minor misstatement.
He added that term limits would curb the sinister hold that “corrupt lobbyists” have on politicians because they wouldn’t be able to “buy a lawmaker; they can only rent them for six years.”
The House Judiciary Committee is taking a vote on term limits today – because conservatives forced @SpeakerMcCarthy to do it against his will.
Term limits are wildly popular in every zip code in America except 202 in Washington, D.C.
It will be revealing to see which Members… pic.twitter.com/3jwre7YM33
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) September 28, 2023
Moreover, Gaetz said, term limits would compel lawmakers to get things done because they’d have a sense of urgency.
“On a term limits environment, you get more fresh ideas,” he explained.
“Far too often in Washington, D.C., we revert to a failed and often corrupt muscle memory on how to do things because you get a lot of people here who’ve been doing them for 10, 20 years — sometimes even longer — so people who are not beholden to the Washington way of thinking will naturally have a more dynamic manner in which they come up with fresh ideas.”
Gaetz said the imposition of a deadline as soon as a lawmaker gets elected will ensure they’re more efficient.
“I’ll use a sports analogy: I don’t think anybody would ever like to watch a basketball game without a shot clock,” he said.
“You’d see people just dribbling around, holding the ball, never making a move, never having to present aggressive defense. And that kind of feels like how we’ve been governing for the last several decades. We just governed by omnibus bill and continuing resolution.”
At one point, Gaetz was interrupted by Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland, who sarcastically asked the Florida congressman how many terms he has served.
Ivey’s implication was that Gaetz — who has been in Congress since 2016 and is up for re-election in 2024 — should step down since he’s advocating term limits.
Gaetz said he was going to address that point himself had Ivey not interjected.
“I served three terms, but here’s the deal: a lot of us who’ve served that amount of time actually want to shorten our own sentence, but we don’t think our district should have to unilaterally disarm,” he underscored. “Let’s just all live by the same rules.”
Ivey, 62, childishly snarked, “You can retire whenever you like.”
But Gaetz trolled the Democrat by getting the last word in. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he jabbed.
On the social media platform X, Gaetz also took aim at Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy for failing to act on the promises he made to gain GOP support to secure the role.
Today @SpeakerMcCarthy improved compliance with the January Agreement by holding a term limits vote, which sadly failed.
There remain significant areas for needed improvement. pic.twitter.com/m0dbmxx5Ab
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) September 28, 2023
Gaetz raises many excellent points about term limits and the potential benefits they bring (and also reminds you that critics of term limits have yet to posit a legitimate downside about them.)
The D.C. swamp is a corrupt, inefficient bureaucracy because too many politicians use their taxpayer-funded offices to enrich themselves while ignoring the needs of the constituents they’re supposed to represent. It’s an utterly shameless and, yes, cushy gig.
For those reasons, including those laid out by Gaetz, and many more, it is long past due to drain the swamp — and term limits are the first step towards the right direction.
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