Here Are the Florida GOP Lawmakers Driving the U.S. Toward a Government Shutdown

Three Republican congressmembers in Florida are rebelling against a stopgap measure that would fund the federal government.

By Alex DeLuca

On September 29, 2023

The country is once again barreling toward a government shutdown that could disrupt the lives of millions of Americans.

As the U.S. Senate tries to pass a temporary spending bill (known as continuing resolution) to fund federal agencies for several weeks and avoid a shutdown, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has struggled to contain a revolt of far-right Republicans, who have instead urged deep spending cuts and threatened the speaker’s job. The nation is now bracing for a stoppage that could drag on for an extended period and interrupteverything from federal employee paychecks to food assistance benefits to Food and Drug Administration inspections. It will be the country’s 22nd government shutdown in five decades.

The last shutdown, from late 2018 to early 2019 under former President Donald Trump, lasted 34 days — the longest in modern U.S. history.

The shutdown could hurt many government programs in Florida, where there are nearly 90,000 federal employees. The budget turmoil has already curtailed natural disaster recovery efforts, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency holding back billions of dollars for long-term recovery projects, including those related to Hurricane Ian.

At least ten GOP lawmakers are rebelling against the continuing resolution, three of whom represent the Sunshine State.

Here are the Florida Republicans actively driving the U.S. toward a government shutdown:

Matt Gaetz

Gaetz, who represents Florida’s 1st congressional district and has been on a months-long mission to oust McCarthy, has emerged as the ringleader of the resistance. Last week, he called for an end to the stopgap measure in its entirety.

“I’m giving a eulogy to the CR right now,” Gaetz told reporters last week. “I’m not voting for a continuing resolution, and a sufficient number of Republicans will never vote for a continuing resolution.”

While the GOP lawmaker has framed the ongoing battle as crucial to curb the country’s soaring national debt, critics have called it a political stunt with potentially grave consequences for his constituents. Florida has roughly 67,000 military personnel, and many of them would go without a paycheck during a shutdown. A large number of them notably live in Gaetz’s Panhandle district, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Cory Mills

Mills, an army veteran and defense contractor representing Florida’s 7th congressional district, has argued that GOP lawmakers should have worked through Congress’ August recess to avoid the September 30 funding deadline.

The congressman has said that he doesn’t support a temporary resolution to help avoid a shutdown. Last week, he renewed his calls for his colleagues to stay in Washington to break the stalemate.

“Going home and not solving D.C.’s spending problem is unacceptable,” Mills wrote in a September 21 post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Mills, a Winter Haven native who won his two-year term in Washington last November, served in an airborne division of the U.S. Army between 1999 and 2004 before working in the private defense and security contracting industry.

He is the cofounder of PACEM Solutions, the company that sold tear gas used against Black Lives Matter demonstrators. As New Times previously reported, a PACEM-owned company supplied rubber bullets used in Hong Kong to crack down on protesters.

Anna Paulina Luna

Luna, a St. Petersburg politician representing Florida’s 13th congressional district, was one of the first lawmakers to oppose the continuing resolution last week. She has since shared numerous social media posts expressing her resistance to it, several of which include the hashtag #NOCR.

“Shut it down,” she wrote in one post on September 25.

The far-right congresswoman, the first Mexican-American woman elected to Congress from Florida, has previously denied the 2020 presidential election results and made claims about her troubled upbringing in California that her family members later challenged.

Luna served in the U.S. Air Force from 2009 to 2014 and later dove into politics as a Hispanic outreach coordinator for Turning Point USA. After gaining a large following on social media with brassy and uncompromising political commentary, she mounted a failed run for Congress against incumbent Charlie Crist in 2020.

She beat Democratic nominee Eric Lynn in 2022 to secure her congressional seat.

This piece was republished from The Miami New Times.