But there is nothing to stop the Reps from saying “lol just kidding to any agreement”.
Revealing the opposition party to be a group of incompetent schnooks unfit to govern seems like it should count as a “benefit”.
I’m wondering if the Democrats would vote for a moderate Republican who would promise to only push the actual Republican legislative agenda and not allow a two-year circus of fake “investigations” into Hunter Biden et al. I’m wondering if any such Republican is currently sitting in Congress. Maybe they could bring back one of those guys who got primaried out for voting to impeach Trump? Or maybe there’s some moderate Democrat (i.e. not Jefferies) who could peel off six GOP votes? In any case, it appears we’re at the point where whatever happens is going to be something that seemed very unlikely a few weeks ago.
The problem is WE didn’t vote these clowns in. WE voted for responsible adults; those clowns in a small part of Georgia voted for MTG, not me.
The popularity of Congress is always in the 40% range because people hate the OVERALL effect; the popularity of each member of Congress in their district is 50%+ because they keep getting elected. “Congress is a bunch of lying thiefs, except my guy - he’s great!”
Yes, that too. But a written agreement regarding committee membership would typically be rather binding, I would think.
Especially since they could file a motion to vacate and expect the 20 Never Kevins to support them in ousting McCarthy and getting us right back here.
But I agree, it’s not going to happen.
Yes, Fred Upton is the name typically mentioned.
Round 7 is over. The only change is Gaetz going from Donalds to The Donald.
seven was not a lucky number for kevin.
Quick bet, how many applaud when the Clerk announces Trump’s one vote?
I’ll take <5. Maybe zero.
But I could be wrong - maybe the whole McCarthy crew will since he is supporting Kevin.
Is the scuttlebutt that McCarthy will continue this exercise in futility indefinitely? He may peel off some of the hold outs, but others (enough to keep him from winning) are saying there’s nothing that anyone could say, do, or promise to convince them to vote for him.
Interesting quote from CNN about centrist GOP House members stomach for more concessions:
Kevin may not have much more room to maneuver.
ETA: I should perhaps mention that this is possibly part of the holdouts calculus. There are certainly concessions that McCarthy could promise that will not pass a rules vote due to moderate Republicans (plus Democrats of course) voting it down. Which would make the promises worthless. Both further limiting McCarthy’s room to broker a deal but also pointing out the ultimate futility of the Never Kevins stance (they literally cannot get the things they claim to want).
No, he can’t. It’s called Separation of Powers.
I think the Gang of 20’s strategy is to wring as many concessions as possible out of an increasingly desperate McCarthy but never vote for him. Then if the rest of the party switches to (for example) Scalise, they will insist on those concessions in exchange for their support.
The only way the Dems even consider helping is if a Trump-impeacher is nominated and they get equal numbers of seats on all committees.
But there’s a lot of things he can do via EO. And hell, let conservatives challenge them all the way up to the USSC, where the conservative justices can overturn them as House Pubs continue to twiddle their thumbs. The campaign ads would write themselves for 2024 and beyond.
The Republican Conference needs to begin thinking seriously if depending on Democrat votes to get ahead is still to be considered “fate worse than death”…
Thanks so much for pointing that out! Fascinating read.
CSPAN said that Kevin will ask for another adjournment next.
Popcorn gets stale and the good of the country, of the world even, which both need a government that can function? Crises can happen any moment.
There will be an outcome at some point. Don’t we all want the best possible one to happen?
Heck just the fact that they and their staff needs to get paid.
Helping defang the howlers and getting some chance at at least some reasonable work done is something all Ds should want. If it leaves a GOO Civil War still in progress, all the better.
It is somewhat interesting (in a “may you live in interesting times” sense) to consider what would happen if the House simply refused to ever conduct its business or hold session.
I would assume that some point the POTUS could order the Treasurer to do things like issue unauthorized debt.
Clearly it would be a Constitutional crisis if one of the branches simply refused to fulfill their role. But that’s pretty far afield from this thread (but perhaps not as far as we would hope…).
How long could this go on before it becomes a real problem? At some point, the House is going to need to pass a budget.