Jeez, I take a nap and we're up to 13 votes. And Kevin McCarthy has convinced most of his skeptics to switch sides and support him. He's up to 214 votes now. Only four more to go!
asdf
22 thoughts on “McCarthy is getting ever so close”
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So I guess the idea was to preempt news coverage about what happened 2 years ago on this date?
It's Twelfth Night, they're King of the Bean.
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This whole charade must be milked for all the media attention that can be squeezed out of it, apparently. The right wing in Congress demands their pound of flesh, and must be seen to be as influential as possible.
According to TPM, all he had to do was to agree to hold the debt ceiling hostage. Easy peasy...
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/
Unsatisfied with the sword of Damocles held over his neck, he's promised to slit his own throat in the near-future.
Is it too early to offer a prediction on how long the federal shutdown will last? I say 47 days.
So, here’s something that just occurred to me: now that this is public knowledge, it’s obvious that anyone opting for McCarthy either doesn’t believe that he will honor the deal when the time comes or they genuinely believe that the Biden administration and the Senate will cave in to them regarding the budget and the debt ceiling. Equally, it’s clear that McCarthy has given away most of the plum committee assignments to his enemies. So, what’s the point for Republicans not in the Freedom Caucus in voting for McCarthy?
The other thing that occurs to me is that the institutional Democratic Party may well have made either the the epic blunder in not dealing with the debt ceiling during the lame duck session or they’ve decided to hang their fate and that of the nation on what amounts to one epic roll of the dice.
Seems to me, the same question could be asked re GOP support for Trump. It's the same answer as always: They fear the far right, not the middle or right of center.
The other thing that occurs to me is that the institutional Democratic Party may well have made either the the epic blunder in not dealing with the debt ceiling during the lame duck session or they’ve decided to hang their fate and that of the nation on what amounts to one epic roll of the dice.
If by Democratic Party you mean "Manchin and Sinema" you're correct. Democrats could have dealt with the debt ceiling in 2022. And yes, they sure as fuck should have done so. Many of the Great and Good in DC are epically clueless to believe a catastrophe cannot happen: if the last several years haven't acted a crystal clear harbinger of how willing the GOP is to lay waste to America, I don't know what is.
But, as it happens, Democrats (per my reading, at least) didn't have 50 votes in the Senate.
You could very well be right that the looming disaster is down to the two assholes. But we don't know that and, by the same token, we don't know how the leadership approached them.
Both are in desperate fights for reelection next year and both are, I believe, counting heavily on strong support from the party's leadership to bring home Democratic voters. I think that if the leadership would make it clear to the assholes that this was a red line (a loyalty test), they might well have caved in and voted to raise the debt limit during the lame duck.
Mint the coin, Joe.
Reference, of course, is to that soon-to-be classic song:
"Mint the coin, Joe, we don't wanna come back
No more, no more, no more, no more
Mint the coin, Joe, we ain't coming back here no more
What'd you say?
Mint the coin, Joe, we don't wanna come back
No more, no more, no more, no more
Mint the coin, Joe, we ain't coming back here no more."
It all feels pretty meaningless to me, as a UK observer who knows what happens when you have an ostensible party leader but no real majority. I cannot see how this crowd can possibly pass a budget in their current state.
And that's assuming that the various congressfolk-elect survive all the investigations into themselves that are ongoing. January 6th may have a longer shadow than they would like.
They don’t have to pass a budget. The US has functioned on continuing resolutions (basically, just orders that all spending continue at its current level indefinitely) for years now. I can’t even recall the last time the US came up with a budget and actually implemented it.
The debt ceiling, now, that’s a different story. I too have no idea how they plan to raise that this year. But that’s very different from the budget. The budget is akin to deciding what to use your credit cards to buy. The debt ceiling is whether, after you’ve already put lots of stuff on your credit card, you decide to tell the credit card issuer to fck off without actually paying anything.
asdf indeed.
A lot of performance art legislation that will die quick deaths in the Senate, partisan investigations with Administration figures ignoring supoenas (what's good for the goose...) and a debt ceiling crisis the White House has no doubt prepared for by saying if the GOP wishes to sue to force the government into default, by all means let them. What is remarkable here is that for all their contempt for Paul Ryan, they basically want to follow his budget outline for severe austerity and demanded it as a pre-condition for their support. I hope they enjoy the defense cuts!
McCarthy wins on terms that basically make his office ceremonial at beast. All the groveling and butt kissing, I hope it was worth it. All the GOP is doing now is fighting for his ego.
Not only that, but if all this was about seats on the Rules Committee, it begs the question why wasn't this worked out weeks or even a month ago?
All for an office and a wooden hammer.
When Rayburn or LBJ or O'Neil or Pelosi wielded that gavel and sat in that office, it bloody well meant something. In McCarthy's case, gavelling the House to order will simply signal the majority whip to bring in and show him the jar where the Freedom Caucus keeps his balls to let him know to STFU and remember who he answers to.
McCarthy will chuckle to himself because he knows very well his balls are down in Mar-A-Lago and these are cheap knock-offs, probably from some hobo he lured into the Capitol parking garage.
Good health news reflected in the source note humor is perfect for those weary of this Republican show.
So, is there any prospect for a rules-change? Do House members even acknowledge there's a problem? What if a national emergency had occurred in early January and legislation was desperately needed? Also, what if this situation had transpired in early 2025: would we have simply delayed certification of the presidential election?'
The clown car that is the House GOP makes for a nice occasion to eat popcorn and mock MAGA dysfunction, but there are real constitutional issues at play, and I feel this is yet another brightly lit illustration (and warning sign) as to the creakiness of the USA's political-constitutional order.
At minimum they should change the rules to allow members to be sworn in by the clerk. Also, IIRC, members-elect sign an oath when they arrive at the Capitol, so maybe the law (or House rules) can be changed to allow the signature to replace the swearing in. (The public oath-taking ceremony could still take place, of course, in keeping with tradition; its delay simply wouldn't stop House business from occurring, as is now the case).