I’m embarrassed. If there is a national identity in America, it’s taken quite a hit since yesterday when the new Congress was supposed to be sworn in. Instead of celebrating their House takeover, Republicans have been unable to agree on a Speaker to lead their Party in 2023.
Yesterday, the House voted three times. So far today, they’ve also voted three times. McCarthy got fewer votes the second time than he did the first time — and that number decreased with subsequent votes.
McCarthy is moving in the wrong direction. Votes for others were too insignificant to matter. Jeffries, however, received all 212 Democratic votes every time. The most McCarthy was able to muster was 203.
Republicans are flailing as the world watches
If Republicans were capable of compromise or even honest negotiations, it would make sense to try to get a handful of moderate Republicans to support Jeffries as Speaker of the House rather than to keep trying for a Republican. But Republican distaste for all things democratic will undoubtedly get in the way of any such simple solution.
What’s crazy to me is how they keep voting even though they don’t have the numbers they need to secure anyone for the leadership position. I’m reminded of that saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.”
While we may have saved our democracy from a hostile takeover on Jan 6, one of our two political parties has now regressed to the point where it is incapable of decisive action. Given what we know about the decision-making powers of leading Republicans today, perhaps inaction on their part is the best we can hope for.
But here’s the problem: the House can’t do anything without a Speaker. So they are hogtied while Republican infighting is being broadcast on national TV.
In contrast, the Democrats, who are in the minority in the House and are a much more diverse group overall, were able to elect their new leader, Hakeem Jeffries, in a single unanimous vote.
Democrats offer solutions; Republicans offer stalemates
If nothing else, this demonstrates the inherent difference between the Republicans and Democrats of today’s Congress. Democrats have a platform that unites them. Republicans have nothing — no platform, no policy, no stated values.
Moreover, Republicans have sacrificed morality and decency to gain power among the least educated and most disgruntled members of society. They have supported various unqualified candidates (Dr. Oz, Kari Lake, George Santos) who don’t have the experience, temperament, or educational background to be fit for public office. Their choices have sent a powerful message to the American people: we are not the party of laws or values; we’re just here to win.
Kevin McCarthy’s deals with the devil
McCarthy has already made several concessions to the most extreme members of his party in hopes of earning their support for his position as Speaker of the House— it hasn’t worked. But it has left us with some interesting clues regarding what the Republican Party is hoping to do if they can find someone to lead them in the House.
This is a partial list, and if McCarthy never gets the votes he needs to be the speaker, these proposed new rules may change. But this is what Republicans are looking for today, providing us with insight into their future plans.
End Jan. 6 Committee
Establish a new committee to investigate “Weaponization of the Federal Government”
Impose new limits on the Office of Congressional Ethics
End union rights for Congressional workers
Allow appropriation amendments to cut funding for specific workers/programs
Let’s take these one at a time.
End Jan. 6 Committee
The members of the January 6th Committee have prepared well for this eventuality and have left nothing to chance. The Jan 6 Committee concluded its investigation and has made its evidence public. They have even sent certain sensitive materials directly to the White House and Homeland Security rather than releasing them to the public. This was done to prevent the names of some of those who testified during the committee hearings from being obtained by those who may wish to exact revenge. This is a genuine concern for the committee, given that they have already procured evidence suggesting that Trump and his minions were actively engaged in obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
Establish a new committee to investigate the “Weaponization of the Federal Government”
We have never seen a weaponization of the federal government more extensive than Donald Trump’s. He used the CDC to spread COVID misinformation, politicizing a public health crisis for his personal political advantage.
We also have evidence that his tax returns were never audited despite a legal requirement to do so. The specifics of this have not yet been uncovered, but it’s clear that the Trump administration was manipulating the IRS.
However, James Comey and Andrew McCabe were subjects of extensive IRS audits — neither of which was required by law. This would be a perfect subject for the investigation into the weaponization of the federal government, but something tells me this is not where Republicans will focus their energies.
Instead, they will look to prove that Biden weaponized the government to investigate Trump.
They won’t find anything to support their allegations. Still, just like the case with Hillary Clinton’s emails and the prolonged investigation into the tragedy in Benghazi, they will waste millions of taxpayer dollars in their effort to smear Biden and his administration.
Speaking of Benghazi, McCarthy may have single-handedly destroyed his chances of becoming the Speaker of the House when he announced to the public that the Benghazi hearings ruined Hillary Clinton’s chances at the presidency. Of course, the hearings were entirely political, but the Republicans have been saying otherwise. So when McCarthy came out and admitted the political nature of the hearings, he blew their cover.
Here is a quote from September 30, 2015:
“Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee,” McCarthy said, “What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened had we not fought and made that happen.”
McCarthy’s office quickly clarified (following McCarthy’s gaffe) that the Benghazi hearings were not political, but the damage had already been done. McCarthy showed himself to be a gloating, self-serving, stupid man who could not be trusted with the party’s secrets. This may be why he’s having trouble securing his Speaker of the House position. We know it has nothing to do with his values or policies because he has none.
Imposing new limits on the Office of Congressional Ethics
Unfortunately, this is just like it sounds. Republicans in power do not wish to have their behavior monitored, corrected, or punished. This is nothing more than a ploy by Republicans in Congress to put themselves above the law.
End union rights for Congressional workers
An article in The Prospect says it best:
“It’s a predictable but amusing kickoff of this Congress for a Republican Party that has mused about being a ‘worker’s party.’ The first chance they get, they are attempting to nullify the rights of the employees in their own workplace.”
Allow appropriation amendments to cut funding for specific workers/programs
This sounds relatively innocuous, but it’s not. For example, let’s say a program was approved during a Democratic administration and is ongoing. It is up to the Appropriations Committee to fund such programs. But what if the Republicans take over and don’t want to fund the programs approved by the Democratic Congress?
This proposed change would allow funding to be cut so drastically that it would eliminate the program. It’s an end-run around democracy. Instead of voting on the program itself, which would be the democratic way to decide whether to continue or terminate a program, this would allow the program to exist without any funds to support it, rendering it virtually non-existent.
Where we are now
As of this writing, there have been six failed attempts to install McCarthy as Speaker. After the fifth failed vote, Scott Perry nominated Byron Donalds — a Republican I’ve never heard of — to be the first Black Speaker of the House.
This is reminiscent of the Republican decision to find a Black man to run against Reverend Warnock in Georgia. Never mind that their choice, Hershel Walker, was unfit — they needed a Black man, and they got one. Lindsay Graham said Walker’s candidacy proves Republicans are not racist. I think it proves they are.
Unfortunately, for McCarthy and Donalds, the sixth vote just concluded with no winner. So tomorrow, they’ll be back at it.
The good news
Despite the current chaos, there is a silver lining. The more the Republicans struggle to create a functioning party, the clearer it becomes to the public just how inept they are.
The American people understand that it is impossible to govern by denying that problems exist or by asking people to rely on existing traditions/cultural norms to deal with complex issues. This was made clear to many during the Reagan administration when their “Just say no” campaign to deal with the drug crises failed miserably. Denial, gaslighting, simplistic thinking, and an aversion to facts are not the tools of a successful government.
Governance requires the willingness to stare reality in the face and the courage to make the changes needed to ensure our laws and policies take us closer to true democracy rather than continually protecting the established ruling class while ignoring the problems of institutionalized racism, sexism, and increasing income inequality.
Democrats have consistently shown their ability to learn, grow, and make the changes necessary to protect and support the American people. But unfortunately, Republicans have consistently demonstrated their desire to maintain power at all costs, even at the expense of the American people.
Even as Republicans in the House seem determined to repeat their mistakes while expecting a different result, Democrats will move forward. They still have the White House and the Senate. And unlike the House, with a Republican majority, the Democratically led White House and Senate will continue to function as they should.