Most Americans Were Smart To Ignore The Impending Government Shutdown
There was no shut down last night. And Congress now has 45 days to get their shit together and fund the government. Is there any reason to believe they can? Both McCarthy and McConnell have been seriously weakened by the GOP internal circus and neither seems able to deliver any longer. McCarthy may well be removed as speaker long before the 45 days are up. With a fractious 5-vote majority he’s had to appease the fascist-oriented Freedom Caucus to even get bills onto the floor. And now they’re ready to repay him by replacing him. More Democrats (209) voted for his CR to keep the government open than Republicans (126). 90 Republicans voted against it— and against him. That’s not how a majority party behaves.
McCarthy called himself the "adult in the room" and directed his ire towards Matt Gaetz: “If someone wants to make a motion against me, bring it.” He was talking about a motion to vacate the chair, one that is ready to go, copies of which Gaetz left in bathrooms so that media members would find them.
Annie Karni reported that “For weeks, McCarthy had resisted that role, catering instead to the demands of the faction of right-wing lawmakers who were willing to shut down the government to make the point that Washington was broken and federal spending out of control. McCarthy’s turnabout reflected a recognition that he— a people-pleasing California Republican who more often reacts to events than drives them— was out of options to avert a shutdown, and spare his party the political blowback that would surely follow… So after suffering a resounding defeat on Friday, when right-wing lawmakers joined with Democrats to defeat an ultraconservative temporary spending bill, McCarthy decided to try a different approach. Convening Republicans in the basement of the Capitol on Saturday morning, as a shutdown appeared all but inevitable, he surprised his members by announcing that they were going to try again. Gone from the legislative text were some of the policy proposals Republicans had been clamoring for, including severe immigration restrictions and steep spending cuts that would have made it impossible for Democrats to support it. Gone, too, was the promise McCarthy had made in January to allow lawmakers 72 hours to review any legislation before it came to a vote. Instead, members were given about an hour to read and vote on a 71-page bill they had never seen before. And it would be considered under special rules that required a two-thirds majority for passage, meaning that it could not be approved without substantial Democratic support.”
McCarthy wanted to get it passed before the Senate got their version passed because the bipartisan Senate version included $6 billion for the Ukraine war and there are too many Russo-Republicans in the House who are on Putin’s side in this war. McCarthy’s version has no money for Ukraine. The Democrats needed more time to read it before agreeing to the 71 page bill because— in the words of Jim McGovern— “These guys lie like a rug; I don’t trust them.” Hakeem Jeffries felt the same way: “[T]he notion that we should accept the word of the extreme American MAGA Republicans, who at every step of the way lie to the American people, in this Congress is ridiculous.” The Democrats stalled floor action to give them time to read it and see what McCarthy had snuck into the bill (like a pay-raise for members that no-one knew anything about). But with time ticking… and the parliamentary stalls running out, suddenly there was a fire alarm and an evacuation.
Meanwhile, Karni reported that “A group of [fascists], “including Representatives Bob Good of Virginia, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Matt Rosendale of Montana, made a rare visit to the Senate where they huddled with [pro-Putin] Republican senators on the floor, encouraging them to hold off on any action until the House had a chance to vote on its own bill.”
This all led to headlines like this: House Speaker McCarthy faces ouster threat for avoiding shutdown. McCarthy haters Andy Biggs and Bob Good joined Gaetz in clamoring for the Republicans to remove McCarthy. On Wednesday, Gaetz had stated that "One thing I know. If Kevin McCarthy uses Democrat votes in the House of Representatives to advance Joe Biden's spending priorities, he cannot remain as the Republican speaker.” Mainstream conservative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) countered: “The motion to vacate will come... and the question will be: are we going to punish or reward leaders who put two-party solutions on the floor? That is squarely the question.” McCarthy will need Democratic votes to stay on as Speaker. It will take more than vague promises for Democrats to agree to give him the votes he needs to make up for the MAGAt votes against him.
Dana Milbank wrote last night that It’s time end McCarthy’s reign of error. “Day after day, the toddlers of the far right threw tantrum after tantrum. But instead of giving the brats in his caucus a timeout, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tried to quiet them with all the lollipops, ice cream and sugary drinks they could consume. Finally on Saturday, with just 12 hours to go before the federal government would shut down, McCarthy declared himself a grown-up… [E]ven if McCarthy could be trusted, how much more of his incompetence can a poor nation stand?… In private caucus meetings in the Capitol basement, Republicans shouted at and cursed each other. In public, they called each other names: ‘charlatan’ and ‘joke’ were added to an epithet repository that already included ‘lunatics,’ ‘pathetic,’ ‘weak’ and ‘clowns.’… Americans deserve better than the unremitting chaos and crises of his amateurish tenure.”
On the other side of the Capitol, McConnell also took a beating from his own members. “McConnell,” wrote Paul Kane, “had spent the month of September delivering floor speeches dedicated to the defense of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who visited the Capitol nine days earlier to rally support behind President Biden’s request for $24 billion in military and diplomatic support. He worked with Biden administration officials to pare back that request to $6 billion and ask for more funding later this year. So when the Senate GOP gathered at lunchtime Saturday for a roughly 90-minute meeting, McConnell delivered a pitch to rally support for the original plan— a funding plan that included $6 billion for Ukraine. His caucus overruled him. They preferred McCarthy’s plan to keep the government open by ditching the debate over Ukraine money until later this year.”
McCarthy has no stature to diminish. But McConnell does and it’s crumbling now. Kane wrote that “his iron hold over the GOP suffered a surprising blow and places future support for Ukraine in some doubt. That this occurred after the 81-year-old spent the past six months battling myriad health problems, stemming from a bad fall in March, only further heightened questions about his future.”
Gaetz was about to offer his resolution to vacate the chair on Saturday. But when he stood up to speak, the chair gaveled the session shut and everyone went home. This morning on CNN, Ken Buck (R-CO) reminded viewers that the far right view is that “This CR was not a victory. McCarthy and others in the House continually wait until the last minute to jam members with bad spending bills with the excuse that the only other option is to shut down government— that's not true. This CR maintains the Pelosi-Schumer spending levels.” Gaetz retweeted that. On State of the Union today, he told Jake Tapper that he intends “to file a motion to vacate against Speaker McCarthy this week. I think we need to rip off the band-aid. I think we need to move on with leadership that’s trustworthy… Enough so that when you host this show next week, if Kevin McCarthy is still Speaker of the House he will be serving at the pleasure of the Democrats. He will be working for the Democrats. The only way that McCarthy will be Speaker of the House is if Democrats bail him out. Now they probably will… If Democrats want to own Kevin McCarthy by bailing him out, I can’t stop them, but then he’ll be their Speaker, not mine.” I wonder if he's read much Shakespeare?
If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: if th' assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'd jump the life to come.
Let’s see what happens tomorrow. Gaetz tweeted this today, perhaps having read Ralph Waldo Emerson's October 15, 1841 letter to Oliver Wendell Holmes in which he noted that "When you strike at a king, you must kill him." Or maybe Gaetz just remembered Vito Corleone repeating it in The Godfather.
