Miami Democrat, U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia (Florida’s 26th District) appeared to be so frustrated with the GOP Tea Party extremists who have forced the government shutdown that he appealed to his more moderate GOP House colleagues, to put them aside, reach a budget deal and re-open the government.
Here’s what Garcia said on the U.S. House Floor:
“The time has come to put these guys aside, come to a deal. We can fix a lot of these problems. We have cut government spending. We can do more of it, we can make government more efficient. We can fix the Sequester and give agencies more flexibility. We agree with all of that on this side. We just need our colleagues to step up and push aside the extremist elements – this Taliban – that is in America’s core, for some reason,” said Garcia.
Watch the video here.
The National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican Party of Florida took umbrage at Garcia’s comments and called for an apology.
Garcia said he wasn’t specifically referring to any congressional member or group in congress, but talking about “extremism,” miamiherald.com reported.
“I’m not referring to any member. I was talking about extremism,” Garcia said. “If anyone is offended, I’m sorry…. As much as people want to call me a bomb-thrower, look at my record. I’m have one of the most, if not the most, moderate voting records in Congress in the Florida delegation.”
