Orlando Representative Maxwell Alejandro Frost discussed the dysfunction on the floor of the U.S. House and the chaos of the Speaker’s race in an exclusive interview with West Orlando News, where he also warned against Republican Rep. Jim Jordan. The Central Florida Democrat also said while there are political losers in the situation, the real losers are the American people.
“It’s truly unfortunate, it’s Republican dysfunction and chaos,” Rep. Maxwell Frost told West Orlando News. “Republicans are not getting their act together, and that creates the political losers, but the real people who will lose are constituents across the country, the people.”
Rep. Frost noted that people may not fully realize that even after a Speaker is selected, Congress has many appropriation bills to get through in a very limited time to fund the government. Orlando has many projects on the line in these appropriations. “Congress is shut down and Congress is not working right now,” he said.
He places the blame squarely on the Republican Party and Republican members of Congress. “The Republican establishment and Republican Party gave the keys to the House of Representatives to a vocal minority. They did this to themselves.”
“This is what happens when a party is in charge who cannot govern,” Rep. Frost said. “The key here is they did this to themselves, when people value power and their position over governing.”
Congressman Frost said former Speaker Kevin McCarthy did just that and now other Republicans are taking advantage of the situation McCarthy created. The Orlando Democratic Representative had harsh words for Rep. McCarthy previously, and he has even stronger words when it comes to current front-runner Republican Jim Jordan.
“It just takes six courageous Republicans who look at Jim Jordan and see someone who voted to overturn the election, and from words of Liz Cheney he is one of the closest to Jan. 6th,” Rep. Maxwell Frost said. “If they don’t want to vote for him, they should come over and vote for shared governance.”
“Republican colleagues do not have the courage to stand up for their values,” he said. “They are not showing courage and they are voting with folks who want to see our country morphed into a white nationalist state. I don’t know what to tell them.”
Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries proposed bipartisan shared governance, and Rep. Frost believes moderate Republicans should consider the option over Rep. Jordan. The Democratic plan could include a deal where House committees are evenly split between the political parties. Rep. Frost said the Democrats have been reaching out with an olive branch and have been ready to talk. Republicans are not likely going to entertain that option, instead trying to solve this problem on their own.
When asked if he or his fellow Democratic colleagues would work with some Republicans on a Speaker choice, Rep. Frost said it would depend on the deal. But for him personally, he doesn’t see many options coming forward to make that possible without a deal of shared governance. “I’m not going to vote, I can’t vote for someone who doesn’t believe in gun violence prevention, or who wants to take away Black voters’ voting rights,” he said.
Orlando’s Representative believes this matter is so important that he needed to get active and try to help with the confusion coming out of Washington, DC. He said there will be political implications through 2024 because of the way Republican party is currently being run in Congress. While he is disappointed because there is much work to be done on behalf of the American people, he is not surprised Congress finds itself in this position.
As a new Congressman, and the nation’s youngest, Rep. Frost expected to show up in Washington, DC and get to work for his Central Florida district, but instead he found his welcome to the Capitol included being sworn in at 2am after 15 votes on a Friday night. It sadly prepared him for the current Republican debacle of not having a House Speaker and a Congress that can’t function.
On top of that, the Republican chaos in Congress has been going on for some time. Rep. Frost noted that the last two Republican Speakers, John Boehner and Paul Ryan, were ousted because of too much dysfunction, where a motion to vacate was first threatened before constantly coming up.
“All of the political drama throughout the year has been because of the Republican dysfunction,” Rep. Maxwell Frost said.
Meanwhile, he’s in DC, still doing constituent work even though no member of Congress can currently pass any legislation and no congressional committee can hold a hearing. He told West Orlando News he is very grateful to hold his position and he loves the job – even saying he thinks he’s “doing a damn good job” – but if you subtract the weeks spent on political crisis over his first nine months, he says Congress has only been legislating for about four of those months.
“We’re just waiting for these people to get it together,” Congressman Frost said. “We just sit here and wait.”
