Chaos in Congress

[N.E. Brigand]

Of course they did:



(Kudos to this reply to that tweet.)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The next vote is now reportedly scheduled for tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. EDT (after Jordan had previously insisted there would be a second vote today).

[Frelga]

There are calls for Democrats to "bail out" the GOP, and I have no idea what that means. Vote for Gym Jordan? Why would they?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

There are calls for Democrats to "bail out" the GOP, and I have no idea what that means. Vote for Gym Jordan? Why would they?

Most likely, it would take the form of agreeing to empower McHenry to move forward on a limited basis so that bills to provide aid to Ukraine and Israel, and fund the U.S. government could be passed.

(For the record, I personally dislike name-calling, even directly people that I disagree with strongly, though I understand that is a common name that opponents of Jim Jordan use. I think it just adds to the already toxic environment. But your mileage may vary.)

[Dave_LF]

Zing

[Voronwë the Faithful]

John Boehner just got a vote (from Mike Kelly). And John James voted for former congresswoman Candace Miller of Michigan, who is now Macomb County Public Works commissioner.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Jordan gained 2 votes, but lost 4 others, so he ended up with 22 against (2 more than yesterday).

[N.E. Brigand]

It's thirty years to the month since "Cape Feare" first aired.

[N.E. Brigand]

When nominating Jim Jordan to be speaker today, Rep. Tom Coles praised Jordan for his efforts to cut Social Security and Medicare.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Jordan says he is not withdrawing and will try again, claiming (falsely) that 200 members voted for him (it was 199) and that he will keep trying to win over the holdouts.

[N.E. Brigand]

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Republican of Iowa, who yesterday voted for Jim Jordan to be Speaker but today did not, says that since she cast that second vote, her office has received credible death threats that are being investigated by authorities.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Reportedly, Jordan has endorsed the plan to give temporary powers to McHenry, while not dropping out of the race for Speaker himself. Which makes no sense. (As even Marjorie Taylor Green thinks, though undoubtedly for different reasons than me!)

Meanwhile, the harassment of members who voted against Jordan is accelerating.

[N.E. Brigand]

As noted here, George Santos has a new campaign treasurer and his FEC filings have been submitted. You will not be surprised to learn there are some irregularities, including a reported donation that's more than three times larger than the law allows.

Roger Sollenberger of the Daily Beast has a new story about how that outlet "finally found the George Santos campaign aide that was believed to be fake. Turns out, he’s a real person — but he’s a fake campaign aide. And his story is crazy." But the article is paywalled, so I'm not even sure which of Santos's several treasurers this refers to, but I think it's probably Andrew Olson, whom Santos listed as treasurer back in February (and who is mentioned in my link above).

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[N.E. Brigand]

And Rep. Patrick McHenry, the acting speaker pro tempore, has said that he will resign from that position if Republicans try to pass bills without first voting to give him the explicit authority to move legislation. If he should quit, he would be succeeded by the next person on Kevin McCarthy's secret list of temporary replacements. No one knows who that is.

[RoseMorninStar]

Meanwhile, the harassment of members who voted against Jordan is accelerating.

Huge red flag. Something like that should never happen and definitely not be encouraged. And to think someone had the audacity to call some of these fine folks 'deplorables'.

[N.E. Brigand]

Osita Nwanevu of The New Republic makes a good point:



He also notes that John McCain saving Obamacare in 2017, which was a good thing, was also evidence of this problem, because a competent Republican Congressional leadership would have known in advance how McCain was going to vote.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Jordan only got 194 votes this time. 25 GOP votes for other candidates, plus 2 who didn't show up.

Nonetheless, Jordan reports that he is not withdrawing.

[Dave_LF]

Well, we all know that MAGA believes losing an election just means you need to try seizing power by other means

[Frelga]

Well, we all know that MAGA believes losing an election just means you need to try seizing power by other means

Yes, but that's just standard evil. The stupid part is that once they have the power, they just stand there like the dog who finally caught its tail and don't do anything with it.

I guess it's a good thing in some ways.