[Editorial]
The first vote was 203 out of the 218 needed to elect the Speaker.
In an article in CNN they hit the nail on it’s head.
No matter how they resolve Tuesday's vote choosing the next speaker of the House, Republicans appear poised to double down on the hard-edged politics that most swing state voters rejected in last November's midterm election.
It is damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead! (I’m full of bad clichés this morning!)
When the big “Red Wave” fizzled it was the rejection of the new Republican Party. But they didn’t learn their lesson.
Whoever Republicans ultimately select as speaker "will be subject to the whims and the never-ending leveraging of a small group of members who want to wield power," said former GOP Rep. Charlie Dent, a CNN political commentator. "You're going to have this group on the far right that is going to continue to push the leadership to go further right on issues."
They are going to have to put up with the shenanigans of the few hardliners and it is not good news for us. The Speaker of the House needs all the Republicans votes but I think that is going to be very hard to do, I see a possibility of a number of moderate Republicans breaking away from the far right-wing if the Speaker listens to Reps. Greene, Boebert, Gosar, and Jordan the so called Freedom Caucus they are the election deniers, conspiracy theorists, and MAGA extremists and are in the Catbird Seat. They will be the leaders of the sub-committees!
These are some of the areas that they want to tackle…
Washington Post wrote in an article,
“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that if Republicans win control of the House the GOP will use raising the debt limit as leverage to force spending cuts — which could include cuts to Medicare and Social Security — and limit additional funding to Ukraine.”
NBC News write,
“The Republican Study Committee, a large group of House conservatives, proposed a budget in June that would incrementally raise the retirement age to collect Social Security… and lower benefits over the long term by using a new formula.”
NPR said,
But the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization has emboldened abortion foes to consider tactics that seemed remote possibilities only a few years ago. Among the initiatives to receive a boost last month was a federal abortion ban proposed by western Pennsylvania Congressman Mike Kelly.
Kelly’s “Heartbeat Protection Act” would essentially ban abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy — a time by which a pregnancy may not even have been detected. The bill would not penalize the person seeking the abortion, but anyone performing it could face fines and up to five years in prison. Abortions deemed necessary to protect the physical health or life of the parent would still be legal, but the bill provides no exception for pregnancies arising from rape or incest.
And of course we are on the bargaining table in this coming session, NBC News said…
U.S. Republicans in Congress are lining up behind legislation that critics say would roll back protections for transgender people, setting a playbook for action on a divisive social issue should they take control of Congress this fall.
The bills have no chance of becoming law this year, as Democrats narrowly control both chambers of Congress. But they are a sign that Republicans aim to elevate a battle over transgender rights that has so far largely played out at the state level.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have introduced a bill that would block federal funding to colleges where transgender women are allowed to participate in sports with cisgender women. A separate bill would allow transgender people to sue medical personnel who helped them transition as minors.
Another bill would block funding to schools that disobey state laws regarding “materials harmful to minors,” mimicking state laws that have been used to remove books discussing history around race and LGBTQ themes.
The bills have support from key Republicans in the House and Senate. Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has promoted the sports bill at a press conference and in a conservative newspaper. It is backed by 127 of 211 House Republicans.
You say that these bills don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of passing, I reply “Yeah but…”
The Republicans are not beyond using blackmail and holding important bills hostage. Suppose that Democrats want to fund Ukraine with more weapons that they need badly, will the Democrats bite the bitter pill and pass a “poison pill” amendment? What about the bill to keep the government from defaulting on their bonds, will they blackmail Congress to pass an anti-trans bill?
The Democrats pushed back on the Republican agenda. Fox News reported that,
"The Extreme MAGA Republicans have apparently learned nothing from their historic underperformance in the midterm elections. Instead of seeking common ground to solve problems for everyday Americans, the new majority is clearly determined to put extreme partisan politics over the people we are all privileged to represent," incoming House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, of New York, said in a statement Monday.
[...]
McCarthy's central concession in the rules package would allow any five Republican representatives to force a vote of no confidence in the speaker. He also vowed to end the practice of proxy voting and virtual participation in hearings, requiring lawmakers to be in Washington to participate in hearings and votes.
[...]
"Instead of building on Democrats’ work to create a more accommodating Congress, Republican leaders have once again caved to the most extreme members of their own caucus: allowing the far-right to hold the incoming Speaker hostage; attempting to end Congressional staff unionization; reinstating CUTGO [Cut-As-You-Go] so they can more easily cut taxes on billionaire corporations while slashing the social safety net; giving committee chairs unbalanced discretion over which witnesses can and cannot testify; rejecting commonsense pandemic safety procedures like remote voting by proxy; and reinstating the Holman rule so they can target civil servants they disagree with," McGovern, the top Democrat on the Committee on Rules, said.
According to The Hill McCarthy said this about the rule change,
He said that most of the rules change and priority issues with the mostly hard-right House Freedom Caucus group have been settled, and that the issue of compromising on the “motion to vacate” – a move to force a vote on ousting the Speaker – was “done with.” McCarthy agreed to lower the threshold to just five members to bring up the move, down from a majority of the conference.
It doesn’t look good for us as a nation and for us as trans people, there will be a lot of backroom deals being made;
I'll give you my vote if you pass the anti-trans bill.
You can have my vote is you pass the anti-abortion vote!
My vote is for sale if you privatize Social Security and let my brokerage house control the money from the Social Security funds.
I want the insurance companies to get more Medicare money.
The longer this goes on the more he gives away and the stronger the Freedom Caucus will be and we crazier Congress will get. I foresee the country going into default on its loans and the government shutting down every time the need to extend the budget comes up for a vote. I think we are going to be here until the cows come home.
Now here are two possibilities, first a number of Democrats vote for McCarthy or second a number of Republicans vote for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries putting him over the 218 votes making him the Speaker of the House. Wouldn't that be a good howdy-do.
Every see a Clown Car fire drill? Where all the clowns jump out of the car run around it a couple of times while jumping up and down? Well that is how the House will be under Republican control.
An article in The Hill said,
Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola (Alaska) said Thursday she is open to forming a coalition majority with Republicans as the House plows through its third day of failing to elect a Speaker.
Liz Ruskin, a D.C. correspondent for Alaska Public Media, tweeted that Peltola said that she supports House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) for the Speakership, but she is open to discussion if House members want to form a coalition majority, as often happens in Alaska.
Remember: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Update January 7, 2023 @ 10:00 AM
Overnight on the 15th ballot he got elected.
CNN reported that...
Newly-elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy thanked former President Donald Trump for helping him get the votes, telling reporters: "I don’t think anybody should doubt his influence."
"He was with me from the beginning — somebody wrote the doubt of whether he was there — and he was all in. He would call me and he would call others. And he really was — I was just talking to him tonight — helping get those final votes."McCarthy, who spoke with Rep. Matt Gaetz on the floor between the 14th and 15th ballot, told CNN’s Manu Raju: "At the end of the night, Matt got everybody there from the point that nobody voted against the other way, so it actually helped unite people."
I want to know what he gave away for his support, one thing we have learned is that Trump does nothing without getting something in return.
[/Editorial]
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