Tag: house democrats
Mike Johnson

'No Better Than McCarthy': Would House Democrats Rescue GOP Speaker Again?

On Saturday, December 21, a federal government shutdown was avoided when outgoing President Joe Biden signed into law a last-minute funding plan.

A shutdown appeared likely after some bills that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) supported failed in the U.S. House of Representatives. But a last-minute bill passed in the House with a 366-34 vote and passed 85-11 when it went to the U.S. Senate.The bill enjoyed bipartisan support in the House, where Republicans held their small majority in the 2024 election.

According to Axios' Andrew Solender, however, House Democrats are "sending an early warning signal" to Johnson that he " shouldn't count on them to rescue him again."

In an article published on December 23, Solender reports, "Johnson will have the barest of majorities next year — and he's staring down growing unrest within the Republican conference. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has said he will vote against Johnson's reelection as speaker on January 3, with several other Republicans saying they are undecided. With a majority as narrow as 219-215, Johnson may only be able to afford to lose one vote."

Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has repeatedly called for Johnson to be ousted as speaker. But for all their differences with Johnson, House Democrats — including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) — overwhelmingly rejected Greene's "motion to vacate" in a May 2024 vote.

But on Friday, December 20, Jeffries, according to Solender, "signaled to his members that relations with Johnson had entered a new, significantly worsened phase."A House Democrat, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told Axios, "I have thought multiple times that I would help Johnson in a tough speaker vote because he was true to his word even in hard times. That has absolutely changed now. Trust is all we have in these negotiations. I thought Johnson was truly different. He's no better than (former House Speaker Kevin) McCarthy. He's getting no help from me, and I know many of my colleagues feel the same."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Kamala Harris

Harris Rising Plus GOP Chaos Restores Joy To American Politics

Vice President Kamala Harris has injected new life in this campaign. It’s fun again, and House Democrats are building on their best online fundraising day of the cycle—almost $1 million in one day for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee—and relishing this contest.

Take Maryland Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin, who told MSNBC on Sunday, "Democrats are having fun again. We've recovered our sense of humor.”

He continued, “The enthusiasm is real. It's genuine and if they want to say it's manufactured, that's cool. [Republicans] should continue to kid themselves all the way for the next 100 days."

Democrats really are having fun at Republicans’ expense. Take this tweet from the DCCC: “100 F*CKED UP THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED IN HOUSE REPUBLICANS’ MAJORITY”

All the way from Rep. Lauren Boebert’s Beetlejuice incident to whatever the hell happened to Rep. Matt Gaetz’s eyebrows, Democrats are loving it, showing just how ridiculous and unserious—but still dangerous—Republicans and their policies are.

The National Republican Congressional Committee tried to fight back Monday, releasing their new list of 2024 “Young Gun” challengers, which resulted in only more hilarity. CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski was quick to point out that at least two of those guns don’t quite qualify as “young.” (They’re in their 60s.)

Carolina Forward, a left-leaning think tank, got in on the act, with this tweet hailing one of those GOP contenders in North Carolina:

Maybe the GOP ought to think about retiring that whole “Young Guns” thing, considering how that’s played out for them over the years. On second thought, no. You stick to your guns, GOP. It’s just so much fun for Democrats.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren

Democrats Blast GOP For Delay Of Plaque Honoring Capitol Police

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) is among the House Democrats who has been an aggressive, outspoken proponent of a plaque honoring the police officers present at the U.S. Capitol Building during the violent January 6, 2021 insurrection. The plaque, however, has been held up, and Lofgren is expressing her frustration.

CBS News' Scott MacFarlane reports, "Lofgren and a group of other top House Democrats are questioning why a small plaque to honor police officers who saved the Capitol — and the lawmakers and staffers working there — on January 6, 2021 was not completed or installed by the March 2023 deadline required by law."

CBS News, according to MacFarlane, has obtained a copy of a letter that Lofgren sent to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana).

In the letter, Lofgren — who served on the January 6 Select Committee in 2022 — told Johnson, "I am deeply concerned about the delay in installing the plaque, which was mandated by law to be placed on the western side of the Capitol Building."

The plaque was part of a spending bill signed into law by President Joe Biden in March 2023.

The bill requires the creation of a plague listing the names of all the police officers who were present at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.

Lofgren told CBS News, "Officers were brutally attacked. Yet, the plaque hasn't been finished. It's wrong. Not complying with the law is also disrespectful to the officers who saved our lives."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Mike Johnson

House Democrats: We'll Protect Speaker From His Party's Far Right

House Democratic leadership announced Tuesday that they’ll allow members to block any effort from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and her tiny team of nihilists to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, a reminder of where the power sits in the House.

“We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Motion to Vacate the Chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA), and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-TX) said in a statement.

Even among Republicans Greene’s tantrums have been wearing thin for a few weeks now, but since she had Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona and Thomas Massie of Kentucky as cosponsors, the theoretical threat remained real—Johnson’s margin of error is that small.

So Greene has continued the bombast.

“Johnson will do whatever Biden/Schumer want in order to keep the Speaker’s gavel in his hand, but he has completely sold out the Republican voters who gave us the majority,” she tweeted Sunday. “His days as Speaker are numbered.”

Republicans feared Greene would make her move Tuesday, but as she and Massie were going into a meeting with the House parliamentarian, she said that “the plan is still being developed.” Then she and Massie left, telling reporters that they had been “developing plans.”

Maybe the speaker’s days aren’t so numbered after all, at least not by her doing. There’s always the possibility that more Republicans will quit, turning the majority officially over to Democrats, but it won’t be through Greene’s efforts. Even Freedom Caucus loud-mouth Chip Roy of Texas says it would be a mistake.

“I do not believe that is the direction that the American people want us to take right now,” he told reporters Monday.

That’s likely in part because Donald Trump has given Johnson his support, twice in two weeks, and he rules their world.

Once the fever broke on Ukraine aid and Johnson was forced to do the right thing, most of them, particularly Johnson, have had to accept the reality that Democrats have control where it matters, making sure that the government continues to function and critical legislation gets passed.

But leader Jeffries wants to make sure that Johnson remembers it’s on their sufferance.

“Mike Johnson doesn’t need too many Democratic friends,” Jeffries toldThe New York Times.

He also quipped that Johnson is lucky to have the enemies that he does.

“[Greene] is one of the best things the speaker has going for him because so many people find her insufferable,” he said.

But does Democratic intervention make Johnson weaker among Republicans?

“Republicans will have to work that out on their end,” Jeffries said. “The reality of this particular Congress is that we are functioning in a manner consistent with a bipartisan governing coalition in order to get things done for the American people.”

And Jeffries isn’t going to let Johnson forget it.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

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