"Kevin McCarthy was on the cusp of becoming Speaker of the U.S. House on Friday as his latest concessions turned 15 votes and put growing pressure on the six holdouts. But the price of victory will have been high if he finally does become Speaker—both in lost authority and the ability of the new Republican majority to get anything done. Don’t believe the happy talk that this was a healthy display of deliberative democracy. This was a power play. A group of backbenchers saw an opportunity to exploit the narrow GOP margin of five seats to put themselves in positions of power that they hadn’t earned through seniority or influence with colleagues.
(snip)
But note that the rebel demands included gaining seats of power for themselves. They won two seats on the Rules Committee that sets the terms for floor debate and amendments. This could narrow Mr. McCarthy’s maneuvering room as he tries to put together majorities for legislation. They also won a pledge that the top-line budget figure for domestic discretionary spending in fiscal 2024 won’t exceed what it was in fiscal 2022. That includes defense spending, which would have to fall by $75 billion if the cuts are split with nondefense accounts.
Whatever happened to “regular order”? The holdouts have imposed their own budget policy here on the rest of the GOP House. The GOP’s defense hawks may be able to carve out more for the military than for social spending, but the pressure for defense cuts will be great. That’s a terrible signal to send adversaries who are increasingly belligerent, as well as to defense contractors who need certainty about funding to make proper investments.
The biggest potential problem for Mr. McCarthy is his agreement to let any single Member of the majority party move to “vacate the chair” for what is essentially a no-confidence vote on his Speakership. But this makes Mr. McCarthy hostage to anyone who wants to cause trouble, or grandstand to fund-raise. It is likely to be used less in practice than as a threat to extort policy or other concessions on legislation. Once upon a time in Congress no individual Member or even small group would dare to do this. But that was before our current age of performative politics and the triumph of the individual political “brand.”
All of this—and other details that we’ll no doubt discover in the coming days—will complicate the ability of the GOP to govern. With a Democratic White House and Senate, the only leverage House Republicans have is the ability to deliver 218 votes. The gang of 20 this week has demonstrated that the tail of one House faction can wag the majority. Don’t be surprised if others do the same."
And for the record, here's the Captain of the Mother Ship, emphasizing Hakeem Jeffries' race in order to make a sick joke. She's the blog owner who ALWAYS whines about liberals who talk about race all the time:
"HAKEEM JEFFRIES IS DESPICABLE, NASTY, MEAN, WITHERINGLY INSULTING, AND REVOLTING. McCarthy thanked the “Minority Speaker” and I couldn’t help thinking that he was right (for a change), Jeffries is really a SPEAKER FOR THE MINORITY….not the majority of Americans but all the minorities, if you get my drift. I was embarrassed for Jeffries, he wouldn’t even begin to understand that."
Hers is also the blog that refers to Barack Obama as "Halfrican," and "melanin rich skinned women." One of her regulars also referred to all Muslims as "Moslem VERMIN."
PS. The Captain of the Mother Ship is too dense to understand that Hakeem Jeffries has more in common with Americans than she and her Ship of Fools has.
peter3nj says: January 7, 2023 at 5:16 am According to plan this racist pimp will be the next speaker so we ain’t seen nuthin yet yo…👴🏿👴🏿👴🏿👴🏿👴🏿👴🏿👴🏿👴🏿🧕🏽🧕🏽🧕🏽
I wonder if McCarthy realizes how profoundly this fiasco has defined him as a clown and a weakling in the eyes of most of the country. Non-political-junkie types had barely heard of him before this.
And folks like that group of sailors wonder why people of color dismiss them and their ideas. Look, I know plenty of people, minorities, who have told me they are conservative, believe in strong border security, personal responsibility, don't want government handouts, etc.
But they will never vote for the current GOP because they tell me, the words, the attitudes and the "jokes" are too hurtful and mean. Why they ask, would they want to be around people who say and post racist things, even after they've been told those things are offensive.?
I would welcome a decrease in war spending and America's fixation on projecting its will on the entire globe. I also would welcome a substantial increase in social spending that would help imrove the lives of many of our people.
Likely neither will happen to the extent they should.
Peace is the only path to peace. Compassion and love the only path to greater social harmony, happiness, and joy.
The trumpublican's, many moderate goopers, and some democrats seem to be lacking in understanding of the obvious.
peter3nj must be in great pain. Suffering immeasurably. And the poor fool has no idea why. His mirror is broken. Or, maybe, he never had the ability to see to begin with. The result perhaps of his racist upbringing and lifetime association w/white supremacists.
The speech by Hakeem Jefferies was a masterclass in public speaking. The Republicans got absolutely roasted by the words he communicated and the imagery he used.
10 comments:
Wall Street Journal:
"Kevin McCarthy was on the cusp of becoming Speaker of the U.S. House on Friday as his latest concessions turned 15 votes and put growing pressure on the six holdouts. But the price of victory will have been high if he finally does become Speaker—both in lost authority and the ability of the new Republican majority to get anything done. Don’t believe the happy talk that this was a healthy display of deliberative democracy. This was a power play. A group of backbenchers saw an opportunity to exploit the narrow GOP margin of five seats to put themselves in positions of power that they hadn’t earned through seniority or influence with colleagues.
(snip)
But note that the rebel demands included gaining seats of power for themselves. They won two seats on the Rules Committee that sets the terms for floor debate and amendments. This could narrow Mr. McCarthy’s maneuvering room as he tries to put together majorities for legislation. They also won a pledge that the top-line budget figure for domestic discretionary spending in fiscal 2024 won’t exceed what it was in fiscal 2022. That includes defense spending, which would have to fall by $75 billion if the cuts are split with nondefense accounts.
Whatever happened to “regular order”? The holdouts have imposed their own budget policy here on the rest of the GOP House. The GOP’s defense hawks may be able to carve out more for the military than for social spending, but the pressure for defense cuts will be great. That’s a terrible signal to send adversaries who are increasingly belligerent, as well as to defense contractors who need certainty about funding to make proper investments.
The biggest potential problem for Mr. McCarthy is his agreement to let any single Member of the majority party move to “vacate the chair” for what is essentially a no-confidence vote on his Speakership. But this makes Mr. McCarthy hostage to anyone who wants to cause trouble, or grandstand to fund-raise. It is likely to be used less in practice than as a threat to extort policy or other concessions on legislation. Once upon a time in Congress no individual Member or even small group would dare to do this. But that was before our current age of performative politics and the triumph of the individual political “brand.”
All of this—and other details that we’ll no doubt discover in the coming days—will complicate the ability of the GOP to govern. With a Democratic White House and Senate, the only leverage House Republicans have is the ability to deliver 218 votes. The gang of 20 this week has demonstrated that the tail of one House faction can wag the majority. Don’t be surprised if others do the same."
And for the record, here's the Captain of the Mother Ship, emphasizing Hakeem Jeffries' race in order to make a sick joke. She's the blog owner who ALWAYS whines about liberals who talk about race all the time:
"HAKEEM JEFFRIES IS DESPICABLE, NASTY, MEAN, WITHERINGLY INSULTING, AND REVOLTING.
McCarthy thanked the “Minority Speaker” and I couldn’t help thinking that he was right (for a change), Jeffries is really a SPEAKER FOR THE MINORITY….not the majority of Americans but all the minorities, if you get my drift. I was embarrassed for Jeffries, he wouldn’t even begin to understand that."
Hers is also the blog that refers to Barack Obama as "Halfrican," and "melanin rich skinned women." One of her regulars also referred to all Muslims as "Moslem VERMIN."
PS. The Captain of the Mother Ship is too dense to understand that Hakeem Jeffries has more in common with Americans than she and her Ship of Fools has.
One of the Mother Ship's more blatant fools:
peter3nj says:
January 7, 2023 at 5:16 am
According to plan this racist pimp will be the next speaker so we ain’t seen nuthin yet yo…👴🏿👴🏿👴🏿👴🏿👴🏿👴🏿👴🏿👴🏿🧕🏽🧕🏽🧕🏽
I wonder if McCarthy realizes how profoundly this fiasco has defined him as a clown and a weakling in the eyes of most of the country. Non-political-junkie types had barely heard of him before this.
All that's needed to express the cartoon of the week is a drawing of the U.S. Representatives House.
Shaw et al...
And folks like that group of sailors wonder why people of color dismiss them and their ideas. Look, I know plenty of people, minorities, who have told me they are conservative, believe in strong border security, personal responsibility, don't want government handouts, etc.
But they will never vote for the current GOP because they tell me, the words, the attitudes and the "jokes" are too hurtful and mean. Why they ask, would they want to be around people who say and post racist things, even after they've been told those things are offensive.?
I would welcome a decrease in war spending and America's fixation on projecting its will on the entire globe. I also would welcome a substantial increase in social spending that would help imrove the lives of many of our people.
Likely neither will happen to the extent they should.
Peace is the only path to peace. Compassion and love the only path to greater social harmony, happiness, and joy.
The trumpublican's, many moderate goopers, and some democrats seem to be lacking in understanding of the obvious.
peter3nj must be in great pain. Suffering immeasurably. And the poor fool has no idea why. His mirror is broken. Or, maybe, he never had the ability to see to begin with. The result perhaps of his racist upbringing and lifetime association w/white supremacists.
The speech by Hakeem Jefferies was a masterclass in public speaking. The Republicans got absolutely roasted by the words he communicated and the imagery he used.
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