Expect the changes to the people’s business-as-usual to be mostly cosmetic under Kevin McCarthy’s reign as speaker of the House.
AG:
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” That seems to be Kevin McCarthy’s favorite mantra. Friday night, on the 15th vote for speaker of the House, he finally got his moist little palm around Nancy Pelosi’s still-warm gavel. Welcome to the new Republican-ish speaker of the House!
The contest was brutal, occasionally absurd, and the occasion of hilarity and consternation among the punditocracy on both the Right and the Left. The Left clucked their tongues about the “chaos” on view on the other side of the aisle. Some among the GOP agreed and wondered why “their side” could not govern as effectively as the Democrats. Would Nancy Pelosi have put up with this level of dissension among the Democratic rank and file? Others said, no, no, the 20 freedom caucus members (and others) holding up the inevitable were just giving the world a reality show, live-action look at how “democracy” (if not quite Our Democracy™) works and should work.
I am of two minds about that. My own take is that McCarthy is an unreliable ally for those on the Right. He was only too happy to shovel billions of your and your children’s money to Ukraine while doing little to secure our southern border. McCarthy is from California, so, naturally, he likes to spend money. He even got behind such improvident and mendacious schemes as raiding Medicare to pay for the U.S. Postal Service. He was happy to fund the January 6 kangaroo court, grant amnesty to illegal immigrants, and support mandates for the useless—indeed, dangerous—COVID vaccine for the military. In plain terms, his voting record is only intermittently conservative. MORE
This does not sound cosmetic to me. WTF is this guy speaken about?
Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus got commitments to be added to the Rules panel. The committee exerts tremendous power by setting the terms of debate but usually operates as a tool of the Speaker. (It traditionally has a 9:4 ratio, so the majority never loses).
McCarthy had already agreed to a five-vote requirement to make the motion, which sets up essentially a vote of no-confidence in the Speaker, and agreed to lower it to a single lawmaker.
McCarthy agreed to take a hard line on increasing the statutory debt limit – which Congress must lift to accommodate spending it has agreed to through appropriations.
The holdouts reportedly got a pledge to get floor votes on term limits and border security. The former in particular could drive a wedge through the conference. McCarthy himself was elected to the House in 2006.
The Conservative Leadership Fund, a PAC backed by McCarthy, brokered a deal with the Club for Growth that will impact Republicans that join the House in the future. The CLF committed to stay out of ‘open’ primaries when a lawmaker vacates a seat. That gives arch-conservatives a chance to prevail in a primary without getting pounded by leadership, which sometimes weighs in on behalf of candidates deemed more ‘electable.’
McCarthy reportedly agreed to allow ‘open rules’ on spending measures, which could lead to lengthy debates and efforts to zero out funding for programs unpopular with Republicans.
Another concession is a cap on discretionary spending, CNN reported. although spending levels are usually negotiated by both chambers – and get influenced by the president’s budget requests.
Republicans are girding to take on the Biden administration, and the conservatives forced a commitment to set up a committee on the ‘weaponization’ of the DOJ. The idea had been floated as a subcommittee on the House Judiciary Committee.
He’s another RINO shitbag. I expect very little.
Too bad one of the concessions wasn’t annual disclosure of tax returns. That probably would have generated a fist fight.
^^^^^ Let’s start with Dan Crenshaw. Apparently he did very well in the stock market. Again.
Gosh. Who wouldn’t embrace a Republican speaker that toiled to elect as many Dhimmicrats as possible? He even proudly advised the execrable Kevin Spacey on his House of Cards role. That’s surely a guy I want to represent my brand!
6 Republicans vote nay and rules package is toast. Tony Gonzalez says he’s a no. Nancy Mace says she’s on the fence, she calls herself a purple Republican. Crazy Crenshaw was saying he was voting for nothing received through hostage tactics, today he apologized to his colleagues for his terrorist comment if it offended them, so who knows what they crazy ass will do.
Something else that is getting on my nerves and I don’t know if they’re gaslighting or honestly believe it, but many in conservative media keep saying that one member to oust speaker. That is not true, it is one member to bring it to a vote of the house to oust speaker, the same way it was before Pelosi changed it. I keep hearing it and seeing it that all it takes is one of them to send him packing if he doesn’t do as he says.
Why did it take so many votes to get McCarthy to basically agree to the way the House was ran for 100 years, pre-Ryan and Pelosi? Why were over 200 willing to vote for him to keep it the way it is?
Research Sequoia Capital and the relationship with McCarthy and tell me if you really think he’s going to allow the committee investigating China Communist Party to go there?
Church Committee will be in the bunker with everything classified, although Massie says he hopes some can be declassified. Then they have the little problem of the gang of 8.
I get it everyone wants hope and wants to believe things will change. I would love that as well, but the reality doesn’t look so promising. I guess we’ll see tomorrow if any of this mattered when they vote on the rules package.
McCarthy has built-in contamination. He’s going to disappoint.
That rules package will never ever pass. But as a consolation they will all give themselves a generous pay raise.
The only thing you can expect from a treasonous POS is treason.
The only thing you can expect from a duplicitous POS is duplicity.
The only thing you can expect from a lying POS is lies.
The only thing you can expect from a corrupt POS is corruption.
McCarthy will weasel out of all aspects of the deal – they were “tactical” promises – meant to be broken.
Watch.
mortem tyrannis
izlamo delenda est …
“The code is more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules.”
– Barbossa, Pirates of the Caribbean