Weakest Speaker Of The House Ever ? Remains to be seen......

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made another attempt at blaming President Joe Biden for lack of progress on the debt limit on Thursday afternoon—but in the process, he showed himself. McCarthy’s supposed plea to Biden to sit down and negotiate came with a gratuitous insult to the president, one that revealed, yet again, that McCarthy is not leading House Republicans. He’s being led by the far right of his caucus after he had to beg, plead, and make concessions to get their votes for speaker. And he’s taking his idea of a “joke” from the worst cesspools of right-wing media and social media.

“We have been reasonable, responsible, asked to sit down with the president for months,” claimed McCarthy. “He is making the decision that he wants to put the economy in jeopardy. I don’t know what more I can do.” Biden has been clear that he wants to see a budget proposal from House Republicans to set up the negotiations, but McCarthy doesn’t know what more he can do?

That’s dishonest, but here’s where it goes off the rails. “I would bring the lunch to the White House,” McCarthy said. “I would make it soft food if that’s what he wants, it doesn’t matter. Whatever it takes to meet.”

Get it? Soft food because Biden is old? Biden’s age is an obsession with Republicans, who can’t stand that he’s visibly sharper than Donald Trump and therefore have to project doddering senility onto him. It’s a nasty, unfunny joke from McCarthy, but it’s also telling.

First off, McCarthy made that joke for a reason: to show the denizens of the far-right that he’s with them. That they’re his people. That includes Fox News viewers sitting at home and members of Congress like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz and Thomas Massie alike. McCarthy just announced, unmistakably, what wing of the Republican Party he’s beholden to. It wasn’t a surprise if you paid attention to his speaker battle, but it also isn’t the picture of McCarthy the media is offering. If you watch CNN or read The New York Times, you might think McCarthy is the leader of his party. This is a strong reminder that the reverse is true.

But it also shows how unserious McCarthy is about meeting with Biden. If you're trying to get someone to sit down and negotiate over something difficult, do you get them to the table by insulting them? By suggesting that they literally can’t chew their food? Of course not. McCarthy took a tone of earnest pleading and wrapped inside it a line calculated to drive Biden away from negotiations.

Senate Republicans are reportedly concernedthat House Republicans are going to screw up the debt limit fight by refusing to negotiate and making too many extreme demands, blustering and threatening until it’s too late and the only answer is to pass a clean debt limit increase. McCarthy is doing nothing to assuage those fears, just as he’s doing nothing to get Biden to the negotiating table.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/30/2161131/-McCarthy-can-t-govern-so-he-s-just-going-to-insult-Biden-instead?detail=emaildkre&pm_source=DKRE&pm_medium=email

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

[ And the nothing-doing Republican House continues to do......nothing ]

 

[Sixties Fan]

Even Republicans are cringing at McCarthy's cruel budget proposal

Barely Speaker Kevin McCarthy spoke at the New York Stock Exchange Monday, attempting to convince Wall Street that if the nation defaults on its debts in a few months and causes a global financial crisis, it’s all going to be President Joe Biden’s...

www.dailykos.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

[ Republican House majority, not dealing with what needs to be dealt with for the country ]

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

McCarthy finally has a debt ceiling plan—and it's more absurd than you'd think

Barely Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced in a floor speech Wednesday afternoon that the long-promised House Republican debt ceiling/budget cuts bill was finally ready, a plan he knows will be rejected by the White House and Senate even if he does manage...

www.dailykos.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

What Would the G.O.P. Plan Actually Do to the Budget?

The plan declines to make choices on cuts, and with large categories exempted by leadership, that may make implementing the bill even harder than passing it.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

When President Biden was asked Tuesday whether he was willing to negotiate on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's proposal to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts, Biden sought clarification.

"What's he proposing, did he tell you?" Biden asked the reporter at the press conferencefollowing his meeting with congressional leaders.

McCarthy was "talking about the bill," the reporter offered.

"What does it propose," Biden repeated, "I'm not being a wise guy. You all are very very informed people. Do you know what that bill cuts?"

When the reporter said the bill includes a "long list" of items to cut, Biden clarified again, "Does it say what it's going to cut, or just say generically it's going to cut?"

Silence.

"You get the problem," Biden concluded, having deployed the Socratic method to good effect in the midst of the press briefing.





(full article online)

Biden puts the screws to McCarthy on default

When President Biden was asked Tuesday whether he was willing to negotiate on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's proposal to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts, Biden sought clarification. "What's he proposing, did he tell you?" Biden...

www.dailykos.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

[ McKarthy's House of Representatives ]



The witnesses that Jordan invited to testify have already lost their security clearances due to misconduct related to their participation in, or support for, the January 6th insurrection that was incited by Donald Trump. What's more, they are being financially supported by Kash Patel, a close Trump aide. Consequently, their credibility is suspect, to say the least.


During the hearing, Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman confronted Jordan with regard to his refusal to share the transcripts of witness testimony that was previously given in private and exclusively to Republicans on the Committee. Goldman pointed out that the Committee rules require such testimony to be provided to all members. Which is something that Jordan, as chairman, should know. But after apprising Jordan of these facts, the following exchange took place...

Goldman: [Reading from the rules] "Such records shall be the property of the House and each member delegate, and the resident commissioner, shall have access thereto."Why does that not apply? Where is the whistleblower exception in the rules of Congress that says that does not apply?
Jordan: It is the prerogative of the Committee to decide.
Goldman: No it's not.
Jordan: We have the whistleblower's testimony. The whistleblower does not wish that to be made available to the Democrats at this time.
Goldman: The whistleblower doesn't make Committee rules, sir.

Whereupon Jordan simply ignored Goldman and recognized the next member for questioning. He seems to believe that he can just make up rules as he goes along. And if those made up rules violate the most basic precepts of fairness and democracy, that's just too bad.

Goldman, however, is right. Witnesses do not get to tell Congress who can have access to their pre-testimonial depositions. How can Democrats determine what inquiries to make if they don't even know what the witness is asserting? How can the witnesses' accounts be examined or challenged if members don't know what those accounts allege?

Jordan is purposefully preventing Democrats from being able to engage in a substantive debate. He doesn't want them to learn anything potentially controversial, or that might lead to embarrassing facts being disclosed. Jordan doesn't offer any timeline for which Democrats could have access to the testimony transcripts. Perhaps he is simply saving all of that for a future interview on Fox News.

It's also possible that these so-called whistleblowers don't really have anything significant to say. Or maybe their allegations can be easily refuted. It's reminiscent of the "missing whistleblower" that Oversight Committee Chair James Comer claims to have lost.


(full article online)

Jim Jordan Refuses to Provide Democrats with 'Whistleblower' Testimony Given Only to Republicans

Jim Jordan's absurdly named House Subcommittee on the "Weaponization of the Federal Government" held a hearing Thursday that featured three former FBI agents who claim to be "whistleblowers." However, that claim appears to be rooted in nonsense and...

www.dailykos.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

As recently as Thursday morning, I expressed a modicum of cautious optimism about the United States avoiding its first-ever default. White House negotiators met with House Republicans and seemed to be making progress. While I had concerns about the contents of such a deal, a budget agreement to lift the debt ceiling was quite possible. It wasn’t just me. Washington and Wall Street were feeling good. The market had even been trending up on the expectation that a financial catastrophe would be averted.

On Friday morning, optimism turned to panic. The negotiators hit an impasse and paused further discussions. We are less than two weeks away from the so called “X date” when the U.S. could run out of money, default on its debts, and spark the most devastating unforced error in history. Over the weekend, talks were back on and then off again. As I write this, the Republican offers are heading in the wrong direction, and no meetings between the negotiators are scheduled.

Is this theater? Are we screwed? Should we panic? Buy gold? Bury our money in the backyard?

The debt ceiling reports from the legacy media are nothing short of horrendous. And confusing. Much of it is laundering the viewpoints of the GOP leadership aides upon which Capitol Hill reporters depend for scoops. Their “journalism” excuses the irresponsible position of Republicans and puts all of the onus of preventing default on Joe Biden and the Democrats. I don’t blame anyone for being confused.

Here’s what you need to know based on my experience working in the White House during the last two Republican-engineered debt ceiling crises.


(full article online)

Debt Limit: Kevin McCarthy's Very Weak Hand

The Speaker is talking tough to appease the right, but he needs the Dems to bail him out

www.messageboxnews.com

 

[Nostra]

The weakest speaker ever is taking Tater out behind the gym and treating him like a red headed Cornpop.

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

House Republican majority cut by one after shock resignation of congressman

Representative Chris Stewart is expected to say he will leave Congress by year’s end

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

Speaker Kevin McCarthy kicked off a closed-door meeting on Tuesday morning with a plea to his members: Let’s move on from last week’s debt ceiling drama and focus on the “next play.”

A bloc of Republican hardliners had different ideas.

Hours later, a band of 10 rebels took down the GOP leadership’s push to move on two bills this week, an extraordinary move they said was retaliation for McCarthy’s deal with President Joe Biden to suspend the national debt limit.

The revolt underscored the fragility of McCarthy’s narrow majority and the lingering tensions with the right-wing of his conference over the debt deal. But the protest also indicated that the members have not yet decided on whether to call for a vote ousting McCarthy from the speakership, something that would rip apart the House GOP and send the chamber into chaos.

For now, the conservatives have settled on a strategy to scramble McCarthy’s legislative agenda until they believe he will listen to their list of demands. And they argue that McCarthy blatantly violated a deal he cut in January to assume the speakership on the 15th ballot, though all the details of that agreement were never publicly released and the speaker insists he’s lived up to those promises.


(full article online)

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/06/politics/republican-revolt-mccarthy-rule-vote/index.html?link_id=9&can_id=6e84143cce349aec0c9a0b4e4a28c9c6&source=email-sheriff-calls-for-felony-charges-in-desantis-scandal-2&email_referrer=email_1946508&email_subject=judge-deals-desantis-a-crushing-defeat