22 September 2023

Grandstanding Obstructionists: 2 out of 5 Are Arizona Right-Wing Personalities

The usual suspects were at the heart of it. From the Washington Post:

But any good feelings out of that meeting crumbled Thursday morning, when five Republicans — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Dan Bishop (N.C.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Eli Crane (Ariz.) and Matthew M. Rosendale (Mont.) — voted against advancing the measure to a final vote. Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) switched his vote from “yes” to “no,” which allows Republicans to bring up the motion again later if they have the votes.

On Tuesday, five lawmakers voted against the rule after leaders had already delayed consideration of it last week, prompting Republican colleagues to publicly lambaste the holdouts as grandstanding obstructionists. Greene and Crane voted yes in that vote, but flipped to no on Thursday’s effort.

It's a cannibal circus now, and the Democrats are better off out of it.

They should ignore the siren songs of the Problem Solvers caucus and/or the New Democrats Coalition, who are said to be "negotiating" a way out of the impasse— which, it should be noted, is only an impasse because the Republicans are running a cannibal circus.
These no-hopers have no constituency either inside or outside the Capitol.
This is a classic case of throwing an anchor while your opponent is floundering mid-river.
The Republicans created the base who created this Congress.
They gave the cannibals their first taste of human flesh and, lo and behold, you taste the same as Democrats do.

The Usual Suspects Yet Again Blocked the Defense Spending Bill

Kevin McCarthy has about as much control of his party as he does the phases of the moon.

By Charles P. PiercePUBLISHED: SEP 21, 2023

The United States House of Representatives is now indistinguishable from a motorcycle gang after the 15th beer run of the day.

I am re-reading Joanne Freeman's invaluable Field of Blood, about the descent of the Congress into madness and violence in the years leading up to the Civil War because, frankly, I think we're getting close to that period again with the Republican majority over which Speaker Kevin McCarthy has about as much control as he has over the tides and the phases of the moon.

From Politico:

Instead, GOP hardliners again blockaded the floor for the second time in three days — leaving McCarthy unable to call the party’s own defense spending bill to the floor. This time, though, it came as a shock to many GOP leaders, who believed they won over enough holdouts to finally bring up the Pentagon funding bill. Perhaps more ominously, the ultraconservatives’ gambit proved what many in the GOP had already suspected: That McCarthy is essentially powerless to avert a government closure that could begin Oct. 1.

Across the conference, House Republicans erupted in fury. “This is painful. It gives me a headache. This is a very difficult series of missteps by our conference,” Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) told POLITICO. “If you can’t do [the defense bill], what can you do?” Walking down the steps of the Capitol after the failed vote, battleground Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.), too, vented about the hardliners. “At this point, it seems like there are some people playing policy warfare, and I think we need to move our country forward,” he said. “We’re pretty frustrated.”

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