Who directs the House majority Whip (or minority as long as we are at it)? Who do they take their marching orders from? (I really do not know)
There is a senior Representative of each party who’s designated as Majority (or Minority) Whip. In this congress, the Majority Whip is Tom Emmer of Minnesota; the Minority Whip is Katherine Clark of Massachusetts.
Wikipedia indicates that the Majority Whip is considered to be the third most powerful member of their party’s House delegation, behind the Speaker and the Majority Leader; the Minority Whip is considered to be the second most powerful member of their party’s House delegation, behind the Minority Leader.
Thanks.
But who tells them what to whip?
Devo only tells them how to whip it. More than that I dunno.
They begin with whatever is in their stated platform, then they meet together with the Speaker (if in majority) plus the other members of rank in their delegation and come up with what needs to be voted on and how, after hearing from those in the delegation that speak for the voting blocs so to gauge the mood. Those of the same party as the POTUS will get him on their case too if it’s one of his initiatives that’s in play.
The experience of the past days leans in the direction that a significant enough amount of the majority has to be presumed unwhippable. (at least in the legislative sense – would not mind seeing them have to “kiss the gunner’s daughter”)
Can someone explain to me why the Dems didn’t strike a deal with McCarthy rather than have him end up as Speaker anyway but with concessions given to the arsonist contingency? Why not get something out of it for themselves instead?
Probably because they figured they can’t trust McCarthy as far as they can throw him.
As Czarcaam says, they don’t care whether it works, in terms of enacting their policy goals, because, by and large, they don’t have any policy goals, except to beat their chests and bray like asses before their supporters.
The Republican Party is no longer a political party, not as we knew it. It’s a mob of charlatans and fascist agitators.
I think it’s the President Pro Tem of the Senate.
That definitely describes the Howler Brigade. Maybe some others. I do not believe it describes the majority. The majority have goals. Goals I strongly disagree with mostly, but goals.
But my point is beyond that - they want to be re-elected and shutting down the government will serve the Howlers well in that regard but not most. That they have experienced
How many Republicans have actually lost their seats as a result of making a circus of government? I suspect the answer is not enough to deter them from doing it again.
Individual election results are like weather. Hard to pin an individual event on climate. But they had horrible polling impacts anyway.
Yeah, this isn’t going to have any effect on their willingness to make a circus out of government.
We hear this hopeful song and dance every time–this time they will see how it went wrong last time–but somehow, no, they don’t. They just get worse.
But, you know what, almost all of them got re-elected. Every time. So, no lessons will be learned.
After the debt ceiling crisis in 2013, Republican went on to pick up 13 seats in the 2014 election. I don’t mean to imply they did so because of their debt ceiling shenanigans – as @DSeid points out, it polled terribly for them. But I think the lesson the Republicans have taken from debt ceiling and government shutdown shenanigans is that they’re unpopular with votes in the moment but forgotten rapidly.
They are really effective at the “the problem is we were not hardcore enough” messaging.
Maybe. Certainly they can shut down government and cause the markets to collapse demanding cuts to Social Security and Medicare. They might for a bit. But how did the shut down end back then? With the GOP giving up and government opening back up. Do you see any evidence that there is the grit to keep it up, that even the hard core base wants their programs and their benefits held up and slashed long term?
If libs are crying about it, their base will love every minute of it. As long as the right kind of people are getting hurt just as much (if not more) they’ll endure anything.
That, and it’s unlikely that McCarthy would have been interested in playing ball with the Democrats, unless he determined that he had, literally, no other path to the Speakership. If it became clear that he was trying to work with the Democrats, he would have lost much of the support he had among Republicans, and been labeled a RINO (or worse).
Actually, I rather doubt that. I think their base assumes the damage will all be done to somebody else.
I think that’s why they caved relatively quickly last time. Stopping Veterans’ and Disability Benefits hurt “the wrong people”. Hell closing National Parks inconvenienced and to some degrees harmed “the wrong people” too. And the goal - slashing Social Security and Medicare? Would also be hurting “us” more than “them”.
The Dem side would work to resolve for the good of the country but if all they cared about was politically, sitting back and letting the GOP make themselves bleed would be the best option.