Congress Is About to Become One Hot Mess
It’s week two of the 2022 midterm elections, and things are falling into place. Today I’ll focus on the goings on at Capitol Hill. Get your popcorn and antacid ready; it’s going to be quite a ride.
Locally, the big news is that Rep. Mike Levin is certain to return to Congress. Republican challenger Brian Maryott hasn’t conceded yet but I’m sure he ultimately will he did this morning , lest things get awkward on Sundays, since both candidates attend the same church.
The 49th Congressional District was one of the blue-state districts that overwhelmingly supported Biden in 2020 despite a relatively small difference in partisan registrations. Republicans hoped Biden’s low approval ratings and the nation’s economic straits would make up the gap… Nope.
In other good California news, Democratic Rep. Katie Porter is leading Republican Scott Baugh in the contest for D47, 51.4% to 48.6%. (We’re not related…she is a shero!)
Nationally, there’s a ton of news, starting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement that she’s semi-retiring from the leadership. The plan is for her to stick around long enough to help likely successor, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries with strategic and tactical advice in what’s certain to be a very unstable environment in 2023.
Politico says Rep. Adam Schiff, who’d been mentioned as a possible contender for a leadership job, will instead focus on preparing to campaign for California’s US Senate seat, assuming somebody reminds Sen. Dianne Feinstein that it’s time to retire.
Speaking of retiring, Vermont’s Sen. Patrick Leahy will be out in 2023, leaving the position of Senate President pro tem open. The Presidential Succession Act makes this position third in the line of succession if the president of the United States dies, following the vice president and House speaker.
Although Sen. Feinstein will be the most senior Democrat in the chamber next year, Senate Majority Leader Schumer has –according to news accounts– decided to pick Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., for the job. The position, though included in the Constitution, is largely symbolic, with the sole responsibility of chairing the Senate when the vice president is absent.
A spat in the Senate over leadership pitted Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Sen. Rick Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee against each other. McConnell has issues because the Dear Leader doesn’t approve; Scott is being blamed for losses in the midterm elections.
Although McConnell won handily, the divisions threaten to impact the Senatorial race in Georgia, where a victory by incumbent Sen. Warnock over Hershel Walker would give Democrats more procedural power.
The GOP should –but won’t– consider the consequences of winning in Georgia, since their candidate is [fill in an adjective for not-capable]. Sen. Lindsey Graham says they need Walker to counter “Democrat crazy” in the Senate.
Really, now?
Here’s Walker wandering off into the ozone during a campaign speech:
I don't know if you know, but vampires are some cool people, are they not? But let me tell you something that I found out: A werewolf can kill a vampire. Did you know that? I never knew that. So, I don't want to be a vampire anymore. I want to be a werewolf.
Back to the infighting….
From The Daily Beast:
Ahead of the closed-door Wednesday vote, the sniping between McConnell and Scott—and the airing of the GOP’s dirty laundry—consumed Republicans who publicly were professing to be laser-focused on winning Georgia.
It all may seem like Beltway gossip, but the impact of the GOP’s food fight was being felt in Georgia.
Asked by The Daily Beast what the view of the pre-runoff squabbling was in the state, one Georgia-based GOP operative was ready with a quip: “Mom, Dad, can we at least finish dinner before y’all scream and yell at each other?”
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The New York Times, noting the win of Rep. Mike Garcia in north Los Angeles County, has officially declared that Republicans have a majority in the House of Representatives. Yesterday, the House Republican conference voted for Rep. Kevin McCarthy to be its leader, putting him in the lead position to become speaker of the House in January.
McCarthy bested a far right challenge mounted by Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, 188-31. The count means there’s a lot of work to be done in order by the California Congressman to get to the 218 votes he’ll need.
He’s already promised to kick Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar off the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and California Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff off the House Intelligence Committee, along with a pledge to right-wing lawmakers including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia that their leaders would investigate Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Justice Department for their treatment of defendants jailed in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Democratic strategists have put together what they're calling a “war room,” including rapid response teams, investigative researchers, pollsters and eventually a paid media campaign to put congressional Republicans “squarely on the defense,” according to founder Kyle Herrig.
From Politico:
The Congressional Integrity Project is also aiming to raise funds for a paid media campaign, including dedicated websites, digital ads, mobile billboards, newspaper ads and, occasionally, TV ad buys. Its public opinion research will be shared with like-minded organizations and congressional allies to contrast GOP investigations with issues the American public cares most about, project leaders said.
Their goal is to prevent a repeat of the 2016 presidential campaign when Republicans also controlled the House and created a select committee to investigate the 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans. That GOP select panel ended up zeroing in on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she prepared to ascend to the Democratic nomination, culminating in an 11-hour grilling of Clinton.
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The big challenge facing the lame duck Congress for the rest of 2022 will be negotiating an increase in the U.S. debt ceiling. Republicans have promised to block any increase in the next Congress unless they can extract concessions limiting the reach of Social Security and Medicare.
A demand by Senators Manchin and Sinema for a bipartisan vote regarding the use of reconciliation for raising the debt ceiling makes passage a long shot at best. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has apparently decided that the best course for now will be to focus on moving judicial nominations.
Republicans, who voted to raise the debt ceiling three times during the Trump administration, have repeatedly shut down the government and faced down Democratic administrations over raising the federal debt limit since the rise and fall of Newt Gingrich in the House in the 1990s.
The more centrist Republicans who could be relied upon to step up and support a compromise are now in short supply. The current GOP freshman class, along with most of the so-called Freedom Caucus, would like nothing more than a game of fiscal chicken, no matter the risks to an already shaky economy.
So, yeah, it’s going to be an exciting couple of years, as the MAGA philosophy holding that any consequences no matter how bad are preferable over actions by the Biden administration, will be tested repeatedly. In the background of all this will be the incessant noise coming from the castle of the Dear Leader as he threatens to sic his followers on dissidents.
Email me at WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com