At Least Denny Hastert Is No Longer Destined Go Down In History As The Worst Speaker
The mainstream conservatives behind McCarthy are incredibly craven— and more worthy of contempt than the fascists who successfully blackmailed Cavin’ Kevin and, predictably, compelled his personal careerist to sell out his allies, the House, the GOP— and the country. The framework that even Matt Gaetz seems happy about includes rules changes that make it easy for the fascist fringe to depose him (especially if he ever works across the aisle to pass important bills; plum committee assignments, including 3 Rules Committee seats for fascists, and gavels for fascists— some general and some, like for Andy Harris, specific; and allowing the fascists to grasp the tools they will need to bankrupt and shut down the government and perhaps force the privatization of Social Security and Medicare, their ultimate political goal.
This thread from Washington Times blogger Susan Ferrechio gave much of the framework away yesterday. This is, in part, what McCarthy gave the fascists for their votes:
House Republicans will adopt an FY24 budget resolution that balances w/in 10 years,includes long-term reforms to budget process and mandatory spending programs,and caps FY24 discretionary spending at enacted FY22 levels or lower.
We will reject any negotiations with the Senate unless and until they pass appropriations bills of their own— and will reject any Senate-passed appropriations bills that do not comply with the House-passed budget resolution and reduce non-defense discretionary spending.
We will not agree to a debt limit increase absent a discretionary budgetary agreement in line with the House-passed budget resolution or other commensurate fiscal reforms to reduce and cap the growth of spending.
Prohibit consideration of any bill that has the net effect of increasing direct spending without greater or equal offsets
Create a new Floor point of order against unauthorized appropriations in a general appropriations bill in excess of the most recent enacted level.
This framework flipped Dan Bishop (NC), Josh Brecheen (OK), Michael Cloud (TX), Andrew Clyde (GA), Byron Donalds (FL), Paul Gosar (AZ), Anna Paulina Luna (FL), Mary Miller (IL), Ralph Norman (SC), Andy Ogles (TN), Scott Perry (PA), Chip Roy (TX) and Keith Self (TX). Seeing the momentum towards McCarthy would win him the post, Victoria Spartz also came on board. Members like Spartz and other mainstream conservatives are enabling the fascists by allowing McCarthy to cave in on all the outrageous demands. They’ll be sorry and, ironically, they know it. One McCarthy ally, David Valadao admitted “We’re concerned about it. I’m not thrilled with the direction it’s going.” Is he going to do anything about it? Not on your life! And for this to all have happened on the second anniversary of the attempted coup is something that seems to have gone over the heads of the mainstream conservatives— though not the fascists who celebrate Jan. 6 as a kind of second Boston Tea Party.
Last night, Luke Broadwater noted that the mess in the House over the last few days is a clear signal that the country needs to “brace for the likelihood of a Congress in perpetual disarray for the next two years.” He blames “a toxic combination of the Republicans’ slim governing majority, an unyielding hard-right flank that disdains the normal operations of government and a candidate for speaker who has repeatedly bowed to that flank in his quest for power.” That about sums it up pretty well, especially since McCarthy “had promised still more concessions to the hard-right group that would substantially weaken the speakership in exchange for their votes, effectively giving them new tools for disrupting business in the House— and the ability to hold him hostage to their demands.”
Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) told Broadwater that McCarthy is “going be the weakest speaker. The problem is that he’s also weakened the institution in general— all because he wants the vain title of speaker but without the power or the potential responsibility.” Broadwater noted that “as McCarthy gave more ground to the far-right group, it was becoming clear that the lower chamber of the 118th Congress would be highly difficult to control. And with hard-right lawmakers empowered to derail spending bills or call for the speaker’s removal at any moment, some worried the chamber would be dysfunctional and paralyzed from the start.
Richie Neal (D-MA), the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, told Broadwater that “The concessions he’s made means that it will be a minority of a minority of the minority, because of the Freedom Caucus, that will get to dictate the outcomes of legislative achievement. The problem is for him that, with every concession, he has to wake up every day wondering if he’s still going to have his job. Because the smallest disagreement could lead to a motion from the body to remove him from the speakership.”
The objections to McCarthy’s leadership were both personal and political. Some members deeply dislike him and say they would never vote for him under any circumstances. Others were using the speaker election as leverage to enact sweeping changes to the way the House functions. And some were seeking to do exactly what they say they were sent to Congress to do— tear it all down.
Speaking against McCarthy on the House floor, Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, portrayed him as someone who would do anything to cling to power. In effect, as McCarthy capitulated to the hard right, he was proving their point, Gaetz suggested.
“Maybe the right person for the speaker of the House isn’t someone who has sold shares of himself for more than a decade to get it,” Gaetz said, criticizing McCarthy as “beholden to the lobbyists and special interest that have corrupted this place and corrupted this nation.”