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The new House Republican majority managed to successfully pass a rules package Monday, and it’s even worse than their last one. You wonder why American voters (and often the Supreme Court) ever put these nitwits in charge.
According to the stenographers at the New York Times:
Republicans said the new rules empower individual lawmakers to have a greater voice in legislation and advance the party’s goal of limiting spending.
Yeah, that’s what they said, but it’s all easily disproven nonsense. As even conservative Charlie Sykes reminded us, “It’s worth remembering that President 45 added more to the national debt in four years than either Barack Obama of George W. Bush did in their two terms. Even conservative analysts reported that [Donald] Trump added $7.8 trillion in ten-year budget deficits.”
The mainstream media should stop pretending that Republicans care about the national deficit or that “fiscal conservatism” is even a thing. The Times does warn that the new Republican “rules could also make it difficult for the House to carry out even its most basic duties in the next two years, such as funding the government, including the military, or avoiding a catastrophic federal debt default.”
That’s only a concern for Republicans if they care in the least about governing, which the don’t and haven’t in more than a generation so why is the Times working my last nerve? This is a party with Marjorie Taylor Greene behind the wheel.
PREVIOUSLY:
House Republicans Defund Joe Biden’s IRS Zombie Army
House Republicans’ First Order Of Business EVEN BEFORE KILLING IRS: Kill House ‘Ethics’ Office 🙂
Republicans shamelessly lie, so when (not if) they force a federal debt default, they’ll just blame Joe Biden and other Democrats, who wouldn’t let them gut Social Security and Medicaid. Trump is already rooting for a debt ceiling showdown because he’d love to run for president during a wrecked economy.
Kevin McCarthy was so desperate to cosplay as speaker that he agreed to a provision that lets a single member force a vote to “vacate the chair.” This was once considered a nuclear option until 2015 when Tea Party extremists threatened to remove then-Speaker John Boehner. Democrats updated the rule so that only a majority of members could approve the motion — you know, like in a democracy. However, McCarthy relented, seemingly believing he won’t face Boehner’s fate the minute he disappoints his MAGA masters.
As predicted, the rules hobble the Office of Congressional Ethics. Three of four Democratic-appointed OCE board members are on their way out due to term limits under the changes. This leaves Republican-appointed members in almost full control of the OCE until Democrats can hire new board members, but that could take months. Rep. “George Santos,” who’s likely facing multiple ethics complaints against him, said the changes were “fantastic.” (No, really.)
The rules also end proxy voting and remote committee hearings that Democrats put in place during the pandemic. (They also made a lot of sense if you consider this is the 21st Century.) The rule might work against Republicans, who hold a narrow majority, and will have to hustle to ensure they have enough members physically on site to advance their awful legislation.
Other rules in the package are boilerplate bwah-ha-ha Republican stuff, such as rolling back staff unionization and pushing fossil fuel development. The package specifically “allows consideration of legislation to require that any future release of oil from the [Strategic Petroleum Reserve] be contingent upon oil production on federal lands in the United States.” Translation: WE ARE SO MAD GAS PRICES WERE HIGH AND THEN JOE BIDEN FIXED THEM. This will go nowhere in the Senate.
We can expect endless showboating investigations into the supposed “weaponization” of the Department of Justice, mad scientist Dr. Anthony Fauci’s creation of COVID-19, and Hunter Biden’s laptop, along with most of the Biden family, probably even Major the dog.
An eager Rep. Andy Biggs tweeted last night, “The Biden family highly concerns me. Joe, Hunter, and even ‘Dr.’ Jill. They are compromised and must be investigated.”
Yes, the new House Republican majority will get to the bottom of Dr. Jill Biden’s doctorate in education. Maybe they’ll put rising star “George Santos” on that investigatory committee.
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