A second Speaker needed to defy his caucus to keep the lights on.
intercst
A second Speaker needed to defy his caucus to keep the lights on.
intercst
Well, ooooOOOOeeeeeEEE.
Watching closely.
d fb
I wonder if there will be a new speaker before or after the next funding crisis.
…as both chambers descend to fisticuffs, including the ex-speaker accused of elbowing a fellow GOP represenative in the kidneys and now being brought up for discipline.
That the vote saw so many of the GOP abscond, and the vote was so dependent on Democrats, must reflect cracks as dangerous as those now showing up in Iceland.
david fb
I rarely rec stuff from Politico, but this article is an excellent summary of the fragility of the situaiton:
d fb
Reality is difficult for some folks.
{{{ Instead, Johnson failed to win over enough of his more hardline conservative colleagues to pass a rule, and he was forced to move the bill “under suspension,” a maneuver that required the package to win the support of a significant number of Democrats. In the end, Glassman said, Johnson found himself making the same trade-off that got his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, booted from the job: swapping conservative votes for Democratic support to keep the government open. }}}
“Under suspension” means a 2/3 majority of the House is needed for passage. A lot of popular ideas like a public-option to allow people under 65 to sign-up for Medicare, reasonable gun control, etc. have more than 2/3 support among the public. Maybe it would be better if we just kept running things this way. A 2/3 vote threshold is better than letting 8 or 10 malcontents shut everything down.
intercst
Can any of the 96 against the resolution move to have the speaker removed? Or did Johnson negotiate that?
That rule is still in place. Any member of Congress can make a motion for a vote to “Vacate the Chair”.
I suspect he got a promise from the malcontents that they wouldn’t try to do it until after Christmas.
intercst
One of the malcontents was complaining that they passed the same CR they fragged the former speaker for supporting, but they haven’t (thus far) made a motion to vacant.
I suspect blowing the place up wasn’t as big a victory as they hoped.
Politics is war by other means.
The Captain
News reports say they are cutting the new speaker some slack this time. But still expect him to come around on conservative issues soon.
That implies addressing deficit reduction–spending cut or tax increases–in an election year. Funding for Ukraine and Israel. Cuts to IRS funding. Maybe Inflation Reduction Act spending. And pros keep saying you have to address Social Security and Medicare to make numbers work.
A very tall order!!
Brick wall ahead.
Only question is of how much of whose blood.
d fb
Piece on the wire today says the nutters blocked action on two more pieces of legislation, to register their anger at the Speaker. So “leadership” recessed the House early for the holiday, rather than waiting for the scheduled recess on Thursday, In the back of my mind was the thought the nutters didn’t vote to vacate, again, now, because they wanted their time off.
Surely they deserve a break after all their hard work…
/sarcasm off
We don’t walk to work all day!
We just want to bytch and prey!
(apologies to the far more honest piggies of The Pigs and the Wolf)
d fb
Ayup. So when the new CRs expire in January and February, they will be rested and ready, to “take a principled stand” and hold the rest of the government hostage to the extremist bellowing of a small minority.
…because Shiny-land is “a republic, not a democracy”.
Steve
I am glad it is not a democracy. I trust only me.
No, no, no, Leap, be glad it is not a democracy and trust only in Me, not You!
d fb
Didn’t I say that?
The posting gods want 20