(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . GOP House keeps up the nonsense, while disarray deepens among Senate Republicans [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-09 On the Senate side, they got an early start in another balloon hearing called by Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. The Senate committees have started doing real work this week because they were finally able to organize after Republicans dragged the process out for weeks. Originally, the blame for the long delay was placed on incoming Sen. Erick Schmitt (R-MO) who was maneuvering to try to get a coveted seat on the Judiciary Committee, pissing off the Republicans on that committee by asking two of them to sep down and make room for him. That’s not something a freshman gets to do. Schmitt ended up getting another coveted seat, on the powerful Armed Services Committee. The significant bit in that is who had to leave to make room for him: his fellow Missourian Josh Hawley—and this is where the knives have emerged in the GOP. Insiders on both sides the aisle have told Roll Call that Mitch McConnell personally demoted Hawley off of the committee in retribution for Hawley’s efforts to help Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) in his leadership challenge against McConnell. Hawley, along with GOP Sens. Marco Rubio (FL), Ron Johnson (WI), Mike Lee (UT), and Ted Cruz (TX) tried to delay the leadership election last fall to give Scott more time to campaign. It didn’t work. Out of the group, Scott and Lee also ended up losing plum committee seats. Scott blew the story up immediately, vowing, “I’m not going to back down.” From what, he didn’t say, but it’s pretty clear he intends to continue his blood feud with McConnell and drag his fellow maniacs down with him. Hawley, like Lee and Scott, has been particularly intent on grinding Senate business to a halt. On the Commerce panel, both Lee and Scott worked to try to torpedo government funding bills with delaying tactics and poison pills. On Armed Services, Hawley had blocked a number of Pentagon nominees from advancing for the “better part of the past year.” Blocking nominees is one of Hawley’s favorite hobbies. He’s put blocks on State Department nominees, national security nominees, Pentagon picks, and the Homeland Security cabinet post. He helped GOP maniacs stall the confirmation of dozens of Biden nominees in the first year of Biden’s presidency, and single-handedly stalled numerous Pentagon nominees last year. Unlike Scott, Hawley isn’t challenging McConnell on his demotion. His office insists he stepped aside voluntarily to make room for Schmitt. “Nobody removed Josh from any committees. Josh decided to remain on the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, and allowed fellow Missourian Eric Schmitt to take his seat on Armed Services so he could move to the Energy Committee,” said Hawley spokesperson Abigail Marone. McConnell’s spokesperson is graciously letting him save face with that story. “I can confirm Senator Hawley’s explanation: He voluntarily gave up his seat on the committee. Any claim to the contrary is false,” McConnell’s aide told Roll Call. McConnell seems to have slapped down Hawley’s involvement in this rebellion, for now. But he’s also likely made another real enemy who loves nothing more than being a pain in the ass. The Senate GOP could rival the House GOP for back-stabby fun this cycle. RELATED STORIES: [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/9/2152037/-GOP-House-keeps-up-the-nonsense-while-Senate-GOP-disarray-deepens Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/