Spectator Freedom Caucus demands
Democrats are taking great joy in the GOP’s difficulties in electing a Speaker, but the demands of the holdouts are largely reasonable attempts to reform how the House works for the better.
They don’t quite go to a single purpose rule, as we have in Virginia, but they do go a long way in that direction. If they can end the practice of dumping a huge pork filled appropriations bill at the last moment with no amendments allowed and must pass inclusions, it would go a long way to regaining control of spending.
To much power has concentrated in the Speaker’s hands under Pelosi, so it is time to make the House less of a dictatorship. Democrats might snicker, but this is something they should have done themselves if they believe their own rhetoric.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
I’m glad for the context this story provides. It is something of an antidote for superficial commentary on the Speaker of the House election.
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Spin. Spin. Spin.
The death throes of the GOP have become hard to spin away.
What you call “dictatorship” a more objective observer would call effective leadership and party discipline. The GOP has neither.
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Your inability to see any issue other than through a partisan lens is noted.
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“Your inability to see any issue other than through a partisan lens is noted.”
Look in the mirror. You referred to Speaker Pelosi’s historically effective leadership of the House as “dictatorship.” There is nothing I have offered that is more partisan than that.
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Uh, no.
Pelosi appointing the Republican members of the Jan 6 committee is a partisan record that will stand forever.
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“Uh, no.”
Laughable.
You make your accusations and yet again YOU display your inability to see any issue other than through a partisan lens.
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Really?
Have YOU addressed any of the issues raised in the post or article?
Or is the partisan gain the only thing you can see?
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My observation which triggered your personal attacks is an entirely valid and widely shared response to the antics on display.
I take the fact that the overwhelming majority of House Republicans object to the so-called “Freedom Caucus” demands as unacceptable as prima facie evidence that they are just that. You want to pretend they are serious and workable reforms? Knock yourself out.
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Not at all. What will stand “forever” is that the Republicans rejected a fully bipartisan independent commission. Then used the committee assignments to blast Democrats. Idiots.
But it did allow the committee to probe deeper and much more efficiently the facts without grandstanding by Jordan and friends.
Bottom line? Before you reject something, think a bit first.
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Effective leadership and Pelosi in the same sentence is an oxymoron but thanks for the belly laugh. Now THAT is hilarious…
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“Effective leadership and Pelosi in the same sentence is an oxymoron but thanks for the belly laugh. Now THAT is hilarious…”
I do not know why you want to parachute in and embarrass yourself with this kind of horseshit. You do it all the time. But, please keep it up. It is a good reminder of the kind of “minds” that Democrats must deal with to govern this country.
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You want a belly laugh? Pay attention to the new GOP Majority in the House. That clown show is hysterical. It’s gotten to the point that even the Trumpiest of the Trumpies is turning on each other.
Proof positive that the GOP has no idea how to govern, minimally or maximumly.
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Pot calling…
Your humor is in good form this morning.
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There are, as the author said, more than a few stipulations that Democrats would either support or not object to.
However, I think two rules are counterproductive.
“Majority of the majority” is one of them. The Constitution was built on and depends upon compromise to create a functioning government in a large, diverse nation. We already know the Republican mindset was to not allow the Democrats a win no matter the needs and wants of the country. Trump said so and MAGA Republicans obeyed. This rule would just make any cooperation on bipartisan issues very difficult. Heck, over 1/2 the Republicans believed the 2020 election was stolen…space satellites from Italy perhaps? Without the loonies or scared stiff sycophants, any Speaker would need Democrats just to name a post office.
Next, the requirement of just one House member to call for a “no confidence vote” on the Speaker is just insane. If you think you have a case against the Speaker but you can’t convince a few others to join you, you have no case. Besides, any reason the Democrats couldn’t call for a vote early and often?
Bottom line, we need governance from our elected officials, not just campaigning.
Having enough time to read bills is a good idea. Maybe the tax cuts in 2018 would have been better crafted.
IMO
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Majority of the majority has been SOP in the Senate as long as Schummer has been there.
The no confidence vote isn’t that big a deal. It would be non-debatable, up or down, so unless it has support it would only be about a 10 minute delay.
But other issues are really important. In particular, stopping the addition of unrelated spending to important bills is vital.
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Much easier to corral 26 Senators than 114 loonies who still believe Sydney Powell and her assorted crackpots.
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If Kevin McCarthy is to become Speaker he is going to have to cut a deal with the Democrats. The Tea Party/Freedom Caucus clowns pride themselves on their no compromise/take no prisoners attitude. They hate the government and the more they can gum up the works the happier they are.
Democrats have begun to float the deal they would take to support him. It is not particularly onerous. All the Speaker would have to agree to is to forego the phony debt limit/government shutdown antics the right loves to trot out.
Or, if the GOP cannot get its act together, there are fourteen Republicans representing districts that Biden won. . .
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I find myself in the extremely odd position of agreeing with Sean Hannity. Last night, he asked Lauren Boebert why she believed Kevin McCarthy should withdraw, when he has over 200 votes, and the Freedom Caucus has 20.
She never answered, but the answer is obvious. The Freedom Caucus doesn’t give a damn about majority rule. They proved it when they supported a man who lost the majority vote for President and they are proving it again.
They will do everything in their power to see that the government of the United States of America is non-functional for the next two years. And they are off to a good start.
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“To much power has concentrated in the Speaker’s hands under Pelosi,”…
You need to go back further. Speaker Power started and grew under Gingrich.
And while I know you don’t like what was accomplished under Pelosi’s leadership, the last Congress was one of the more productive ones in recent history. Accomplishments of a BIPARTISAN type happened. The GOP did nothing to make it happen in the House, nut they did happen nonetheless. Including the CHIPS Act, lowering of prescription drug prices for seniors, and INFRASTRUCTURE. Now they can’t even figure out a way to get one of their own to win the gavel.
Pennsylvania, with a load of its own disfunction, has figured things out though. The House was split due to deaths and “promotions” to higher office. They found a consensus candidate who is a Democrat but who promised to caucus as an Independent. And the the newly elected Governor, Josh Shapiro – D, chose his Secretary of State, who oversees elections in the state, and it was a Republican who did not buy the “Big Lie”. Seems like proof to me that it can be done, but the performative 20 in the House will not allow it.
Actual conservatives know that the “crazies” have already won, regardless of who ends up as Speaker. I wonder how they will react if someone like Justin Amash, Fred Upton, or Hakeem Jeffries ends up with the gavel.
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I am completely on board with ridding appropriations bills of earmarks. In fact, earmarks should be banned outright.
The idea of balancing debt ceiling increases with a plan to repay it has merit as well but is much more difficult to institute. Spend, spend, spend has been a common theme of Pelosi, Biden and Democrats in general to buy votes. You have to break the mindset of free money galore before you can address debt.
The freedom caucus is on the right track in my opinion but engrained habits are very hard to break.
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“You have to break the mindset of free money galore before you can address debt.”
Uh, the Democrats are the party of fiscal responsibility. They have consistently followed a “tax and spend” pattern when they have proposed new programs. The Republicans spend just as much or more, but their policy has been “borrow and spend.” Here in the real world, you rant is misdirected.
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Um, not true. Democrats try to over tax in order to create Democratic Socialism utopia to no avail but spend, spend, spend anyway. Biden has approved almost $10 TRILLION in New spending in LESS than 2 years with NO national emergency to contend with. That dunce in chief is like a kid with daddy’s credit card but in reality it’s my and your children’s credit card. His spending is unsustainable.
https://budget.house.gov/press-release/fact-check-biden-brags-about-deficit-reduction-while-adding-nearly-10-trillion-in-new-spending/
Even the CBO says Biden is out of control
https://budget.house.gov/press-release/new-cbo-report-americas-fiscal-health-getting-worse-under-biden/
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“Um, not true. ”
Leave it to you to cite partisan press releases as evidence.
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” Democratic Socialism utopia”…
It’s called Scandinavia. And the people there are a lot happier than you.
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The way forward . . .
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/05/house-democrats-moderate-republicans-unite-speaker
The gist of the suggestion is that Democrats and not-crazy Republicans choose a Republican Speaker based on agreement for equal representation on every committee. That will get the House moving again and make MAGA mischief-making a lot more difficult.
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I think you have stumbled upon a way to unite the GOP.
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“I think you have stumbled upon a way to unite the GOP.”
I cannot take credit. The idea of the grown-ups taking charge again is not original with me.
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Grown-ups don’t spend their grandchildren’s earnings.
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“Grown-ups don’t spend their grandchildren’s earnings.”
Yeah. Trump and the GOP did such a great job with fiscal management when they had all three branches of government. Not.
Any kind of objective analysis of the national debt comes to the inevitable conclusion – GOP fiscal irresponsibility has caused most of it.
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Biden’s spending exceeds revenues even if he got all the tax increases he wanted.
He has increased the national debt by $3.7Trillion dollars in just 2 years, about 12% of the cumulative total before he took office. If the courts allow his Student Debt relief, that alone would add another Trillion. He has not proposed tax increases that would come close to covering it.
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