House Speaker For The Ages Kevin McCarthy Flawlessly Passes Inevitable Government Shutdown
This guy is useless.
Can Barely There Speaker Kevin McCarthy manage to keep the government funded and running like a halfway competent person? We wouldn’t count on it. The 1962 New York Mets had a better record of success than McCarthy.
Sunday, the far-right Freedom Caucus and the almost rational Main Street Caucus reached an agreement that would avoid a catastrophic shutdown, which could occur by the end of the month. However, even if McCarthy gets it together to pass the proposed legislation in the the House, it’s all but guaranteed to die in the Democratic-controlled Senate because it’s just more right-wing hostage taking.
The bill would cut domestic spending by 8% with exceptions for the military and veterans funding.
It includes most of the Secure the Border Act of 2023, a wish list of immigration provisions for GOP hard-liners, with the exception of provisions requiring employers to use E-Verify to check immigration status. The legislation has been a big priority for Freedom Caucus members. And while it passed the House in May, the Senate has ignored it.
This is why, as The New York Times screams in recent headlines, “Facing a Shutdown, Congress Melts Down” and “Congress Falters As Shutdown Looms.” Yes, all of Congress is to blame, not specifically the Republican clusterfuck majority that can’t find its couch in its living room.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, dismissed the bill and said, “Less than two weeks away from a government shutdown, House Republicans are still more focused on introducing extreme funding bills that would cut funding to the National Institutes of Health including funding for cancer research, defund the police, and decrease resources to important allies like Ukraine and Israel than working on bipartisan solution that could be enacted.”
It’s adorable that DeLauro thinks that “defund the police” is an effective cudgel against Republicans. They’re utterly shameless. She added, “it’s time to end the charade and … get to work.” But all Republicans have are charades and other tedious party games.
McCarthy had barely announced the bill’s existence before he’d already lost the four votes in his majority that he could spare for passage. Rep. Cory Mills said he’s a “hard no” if there’s any funding for Ukraine to “appease” Senate “neocons/neolibs.” Outgoing Rep. Dan Bishop agreed, “I’m with Cory. No CR. Pass the damn approps bills. Roll back the crazy bureaucracy to pre-COVID levels. Now.”
After the bill was released Sunday, Rep. Tony Gonzales said: “It’s crystal clear a Gov’t shutdown is coming. I represent 66% of the Texas-Mexico border — a hollow Continuing Resolution built to win a messaging battle does nothing to keep America safe.”
Gonzales shared a video that apparently showed cheering migrants headed straight for the border. It seems the Secure the Border Act just doesn’t do enough for this manufactured crisis.
Reps. Ralph Norman from South Carolina, Tim Burchett from Tennessee, Matt Rosendale from Montana, and of course Florida Man Matt Gaetz have also suggested that they might withhold their votes. Gaetz and Bryon Donalds got into a slap fight on Xitter when Gaetz claimed that the continuing resolution Donalds supports will fund Jack Smith’s prosecution of Donald Trump. Apparently, if Republicans shut down the government, that’s as good as a pardon.
Meanwhile, McCarthy had to slither onto Fox News and beg his MAGA supervisors to let him pass the bill.
“A shutdown would only give strength to the Democrats,” he whined. “It would give the power to Biden. It wouldn’t pay our troops. It wouldn’t pay our border agents. More people would be coming across. I actually want to achieve something.”
Obviously, Nancy Pelosi never had to beg House Democrats to please let her achieve something because her kids were watching and it was getting embarrassing. McCarthy, however, has only guaranteed that the government will shut down on schedule and he will remain in the hell he created for himself.
[NBC News]
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After listening to several WWII radio newscasts recently, I'm convinced that liberals - and particularly Democratic members of Congress - need to start referring to "the government" as "your government".
Rather than saying "We face a government shutdown in two weeks", say "We face a shutdown of your government in two weeks."
This phrasing, which I first recall being used by FDR, was still being used on occasion up until the 80s, when Reagan starting pointing to government as "the problem', creating this idea that it's some big thing that doesn't belong to We the People.
"The extreme right-wing of the Republican Party is holding your government hostage to their outrageous, petty agenda."
I was near a fire at a La Quinta hotel about an hour ago and assisted the owner with returning the automatic sprinkler in service. When I was showing a young FF the correct actions for replacing fire sprinklers, he asked me "Hey Captain, you've been around for a while. So what does La Quinta mean?" My answer: "It's Spanish for a hotel next to Dennys." He believed me. Kids, gotta love them.