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Matt Gaetz: States key to resisting Biden agenda

March 2, 2021

Rep. Matt Gaetz says people looking to oppose President Biden's liberal agenda will have to turn to state leaders to resist a leftward federal drift.

The Florida Republican told Fox News host Jeanine Pirro that America's federalist structure will be critical in combating liberal policies as the Democrats control both chambers of Congress and the White House.

"When it comes to the preservation of our rights, we're going to have to look more to our leaders at the state level to stand up and fight for our liberty because nothing good is going to come out of Washington, D.C., under unified control of the government by Democrats," he said during a broadcast of Justice with Judge Jeanine on Fox News Saturday night.

The congressman, who referred to his home state of Florida as the "Gunshine State," argued that the states' ability to serve as a check on federal power will be particularly important to protect Second Amendment rights.

"We believe that it is a good thing when our citizens are well protected and when they vindicate their Second Amendment rights," Gaetz said. "Unfortunately, the gun control legislation moving through the United States Congress right now impairs the rights of our citizens. It takes away their individual agency. It makes it more likely that the Biden administration will have the tools for confiscation of firearms, and so, I hope that we make the case out in the country [and] we put pressure on Democrats, particularly in the Senate, to stand against the Biden gun control."

During the administration of former President Donald Trump, many Democratic politicians similarly invoked federalism in attempts to circumvent the White House's rightward lurch. At the height of the coronavirus, Rep. Maxine Waters of California argued that "one decision by the federal government is not sufficient to force these schools to open." Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina agreed in his own case for federalism, arguing that the conditions in populated city centers differed greatly from rural areas.

"It's different in rural America than it is in urban America," he said. "So, I don't know that we up here can come up with a one-size-fits-all."