Former Pennsylvania Republican congressman Charlie Dent is letting it be known that for the House to get in order they need to reach over the aisle with an olive branch. “The House Republican Conference is deeply fractured,” he said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight.”
What many of you are missing is that the Speaker election is not a one-and-done deal. The Speaker sets the House agenda , but that is subject to a procedural vote every day and whoever votes for a Speaker is expected to support their agenda in those votes. After the Debt Ceiling deal, the Freedom Caucus withheld this support for a few days, and the House was almost as paralyzed as it is now.
So the Democrats would have leverage in whatever deal they put together. They can make the deal extremely simple, such as “We will schedule bills for a vote that have support in a majority of both parties”. That will likely cover the military aid and overall budget bills that are coming. And Democrats would have leverage to throw a tantrum if they don’t get their way, same as the Freedom Caucus used to. The only difference is that Democrats have legislative goals that go beyond “burn the place down”, so will be easier for Republicans to work with than the Freedom Caucus nutters.
Logically, this makes the most sense for a decisions. Politically, I don’t think it does. If Democrats come out of this with the speakership, stupid Americans (and republican “news” media) will blame the Democrats for not getting anything done, despite the Republicans still controlling the majority.
Leaving them floundering makes them look weak and incompetent. It is painful in the short term for Americans, but it may be better in the long term as the Republicans fall apart. Let them show their true colors to the American people and then let them decide what happens next.
This won’t end up with Jeffries being Speaker, unless five or six Republicans decide to leave the party. As much as Jeffries wants to be Speaker, he wants to do it after getting a Democratic majority, and doesn’t want to set the precedent that a minority party member could snag the position.
However, they could set the precedent that when the majority party doesn’t have a functional majority, the minority party can help pick a member of the Majority that is more amenable to listening to them now and then.
Unfortunately, this ineptitude will never affect a large portion of their support. House Democrats and Biden are already positioned for blame by far-right media. Ignorant arguments like Democrats helped remove McCarthy or Biden can’t get anything done abound.
Simultaneously, some on the far-right are actually happy that the house is dysfunctional because they see it as a way to stop spending increases or block other legislation. It’s a very similar position that got Trump elected, where the goal for many was simply disruption, because they’ve been convinced that the government is constantly working against their interests.
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It doesn’t need to. The small amount that are somewhat able to be convinced are the ones to look for
This is so obvious and simple that I don’t understand why it isn’t a sufficient condition to schedule a vote on a bill even when there is no speaker.