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House Democrats aren't going to vote to enable a shutdown or an evidence free impeachment [1]

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Date: 2023-10-19  

The history and the structure of the House of Representatives teaches us that the majority political party is responsible for nominating a candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives and coming up with enough votes to get that candidate into that position. The last three candidates that the House Republicans have put up to try to get elected into that office are ALL avowed opponents of democracy. Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, and Gym Jordan ALL voted against counting electoral college votes from states that had already certified their election results. McCarthy failed because he didn't keep promises he made to his own members, he made a terrible agreement with a crazy, and he proved to be an untrustworthy partner to House Democrats in several ways including going back on promises to President Biden and trying to blame House Democrats when we voted for the CR in greater numbers than his own party did. Steve Scalise is also an opponent of democracy, but his problem was that he got in the way of an even more evil opponent of democracy, Jim Jordan. Jim Jordan knew more about the coming events of January 6th according to Liz Cheney than almost any other member of Congress, voted against counting electoral college votes from states that had already certified their election results, and covered up sexual abuse when he was a wrestling coach at Ohio State University. He is an extremist's extremist. He's so extreme that he has never written or sponsored a single piece of legislation that passed the House of Representatives much less Congress in sixteen years. He and his allies still tried to find a way to put him in the Speaker's chair by stochastic terrorism and threats from allies, some of these threats being death threats and others going to the spouses of House Republicans whose votes were in doubt. That failed and so he's out for now.

So, what now? House Republicans seem to be floating a Patrick McHenry interim speakership, but this appears to require votes from House Democrats. But the vast majority of House Republicans back a government shutdown, a 30% cut in the social safety net, no funding for Ukraine, and going forward with an evidence free impeachment inquiry. Yet Steve Kornacki on MSNBC on Andrea Mitchell's program seems to imply that House Democrats would be wise to support McHenry just because McHenry isn't Jim Jordan. Fuck that noise !! He didn't mention any considerations that House Democrats should require, so presumably he thinks that House Democrats should vote for McHenry simply because he's not Jim Jordan even if they get no offer or other compensation from House Republicans.

That means that the consensus for House Republicans would still go forward including (1) shutting down the federal government (2) cutting the social safety net by 30% and (3) the evidence free impeachment inquiry of President Biden. This would implicitly suggest that we support these policies. If they need our votes, then they need to create a way for House Democrats to be certain that the above non-starters are gone and include a shared power structure. The obligation to come up with enough votes for the House Republicans nominee to become Speaker of the House of Representatives is on House Republicans. That's the history and structure of the House of Representatives. If the House Republicans are going to make an extraordinary request from House Democrats, then the House Republicans are going to have to make an extraordinary offer to House Democrats.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/19/2200376/-House-Democrats-aren-t-going-to-vote-to-enable-a-shutdown-or-an-evidence-free-impeachment?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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