[tomder55]

[jlisenbe]

Sad but true.

[tomder55]

What Congress was trying to ram down our throats was swifty exposed by citizen journalists on X People are calling Musk an unelected co-president. But all he really did was retweet what others who were actually reading the bill were posting . People then called their Reps to voice their outrage.

To borrow a Dem phrase they often use.......this is what democracy looks like.

Now yesterday a whittled down version of the CR was voted on .... one that Trump gave his stamp of approval to . Still a coalition of so called conservative lawmakers voted against it Politics is the art of the possible. It is not possible for them to get a "pure " bill at this time . They should take a lesson from Reagan who suggested that if he got 80% of what he wanted he would take it and then come back for 20 % later

[tomder55]

“Continuing Resolution” is the fig leaf Congress stitches together in order to conceal, or at least divert attention from, its failure to do its job and provide a fiscally sound budget in a timely manner. It has happened often in recent decades because the self-serving deadbeats we elect to govern us are, well, self-serving deadbeats. Did you know that the last time the United States had a proper budget was 1996 ?"

The ever-Continuing Resolution - The Spectator World

That would be when Newt was Speaker . But for many years now Congress has passed continuation of Madam Mim's agenda

The biggest job of Congress is the purse strings . In this case I agree with the Parliamentarians . If the legislature refuses to do their job ;dissolve the government and hold new elections .

[tomder55]

Members Of Congress Explain They Need Pay Raises To Keep Up With The Inflation They Caused | Babylon Bee

[tomder55]

A 3rd watered down version of the bill passed both Houses and Clueless Joe is going to sign it (or someone on his behalf)
When I look in more detail at what was originally crammed into the bill ;the more I am convinced that we dodged a bullet ...thanks to citizen journalists who decided to read what our elected Reps refuse to read.
The scariest part was that they were going to re-up funding a mechanism for censorship.
State Department 'censorship' office cut from spending bill - Washington Examiner

[tomder55]

TDS is so 2016 . Piling on Trump doesn't work anymore. So what is a lib to do ? There is a new villain to demonize. Move over Trump . Time for some Musk Derangement Syndrome. (MDS)

Musk was at one time the darling of the left. He was at the forefront of green technology. He showed that you could build a successful cool EV .(even though only the well off could afford it)

Then he did the unpardonable. He purchased Twitter ;exposed the full extent of the Censorship Industrial Complex for us to see. He allows free speech on Twitter (one of the many individual rights the lefties despise) .
And the biggest sin is that he has signed up with Trump to bring efficiency to the leviathan.

They now proclaim how dare he !! We did not elect him. ( nor did we elect George Soros who influences progressive policy. nor did we elect all the lobbyists who walk the halls on Congress making sure that the end of the year CR is padded with Christmas cookies .)

All Musk did was open up Twitter now X to people to speak freely . Citizen Journalists went to work dissecting the 1500 page "continuing resolution" that was anything but "continuing" given all the new goodies that the House leadership ;waiting until the last possible moment ;padded the bill with before unleashing it on Reps who were not going to read it.
Mind you ;before the padding it was 20 pages long.

(1) Eric Daugherty on X: "We have to be clear here. The bill on the left is what would've passed without Elon Musk and our voices on 𝕏. The bill on the right is what did pass. https://t.co/6Ho4sq4mqU" / X



The X folk read it in short order and posted comments that Musk dare to retweet. That mobilized the unwashed masses to call their Reps .

(1) Geiger Capital on X: "All Elon did was read a bill, post on a public platform that the reckless spending in it was unacceptable, ask others to contact their representatives if they agreed, and made clear that he will help primary Ds + Rs who support it… This is called representative government." / X

Well that is unacceptable Here are some MDS examples

(1) Libs of TikTok on X: "Rep Rosa DeLauro (D) has a meltdown over Elon Musk https://t.co/C2sYHQfnuA" / X

(1) Wall Street Mav on X: "The next two years sound awesome !!! Quote: “Can you imagine what the next two years are going to be like?” “there's a tweet from an individual ... who threatens members on the Republican side with a primary, they succumb?” https://t.co/Nu7SOT7RC6" / X

(1) Chris Murphy 🟧 on X: "We had a deal to avert a shutdown. Musk et al blew it up because it didn't help billionaires enough. They wrote a new bill to cut cancer treatment for kids and grease a new tax cut for the rich. That failed too - and now they're panicking because everyone is seeing the grift." / X


Musk and Vivek state their goal is trimming the government by $2 trillion. That is ambitious and unlikely due to entitlement spending. I'd be happy with a balanced budget in the first year along with permanent deregulation measures.

That would spur an economic boom we have not seen in years .

[tomder55]

The coalition of idiots in the House could screw up Trump's certification on January 6.
There is no guarantee that they will vote for Speaker Johnson when Speakership votes are cast on January 2.

There is also no guarantee that any of the Dems will cross the aisle . In fact I think Minority leader Jeffries would jump at the chance to deny Trump certification.
The 2023 revolt lasted 5 days before Johnson was selected. That was the longest speaker vote since 1859


Now I understand why some of the Repub hardliners would prefer another Speaker. Because of the thin margin of their majority Johnson has had to wheel and deal with the Dems .Unlike the Dems who vote in lock step (except sometimes the SQUAD ) ;the Repubs have shot themselves in the foot and the bills that have made it through the House are watered down at best.

That has rightly upset them. The answer to that is to win the mid-terms ....something that could be close to impossible .Typically the majority loses seats in the mid-term elections . Right now their majority is a total of one given defections to Trump's team ;the seats that went to the Dems in the California election steal this year; and sudden resignations ( unlike the Senate where Guvs pick replacements ;vacancies in the House must have special elections .)

Trump is not pleased with Johnson either . He probably could do arm twisting if he was so inclined . But who knows ? Trump may want a change of leadership in the House.

Bottom line is that if this issue is not resolved by January 6 then there will be a delay in certifying .

[tomder55]

End of discussion . The Repbs are going into the next session with the slimmest of majorities ever . 1 vote that's it .

Trump supports Mike Johnson for Speaker .
Trump Endorses Mike Johnson to Continue as House Speaker - The New York Times

1 dissident votes is all it takes to start Trump's term in chaos threatening the certification of his election ;confirmation of his cabinet and ;potentially delaying his inauguration.

The fact is that Mike Johnson inherited a disaster when Matt Gaetz and several of my colleagues teamed up with 208 Democrats to remove Kevin McCarthy, which will go down as the single stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in politics. With that said, removing Mike Johnson would equally be as stupid. The fact is that these folks are playing with fire, and if they think they’re somehow going to get a more conservative speaker, they’re kidding themselves

GOP lawmaker urges Republicans to back Mike Johnson in speaker vote

[tomder55]

Voting on Speaker of the House begins today. Speaker Johnson has a 2 vote cushion. Rep Massie already said he is a no vote. The Dems won't help Johnson. They would love to see chaos that delays Trump in any way.

Trump is doing some arm twisting . Some members of the coalition of idiots like MTG have indicated they are on board; so hopefully this does not become a long drawn out process. The election needs to be certified . Trump's appointments need to be confirmed so he can hit the ground running.

[tomder55]

wonders never cease Johnson is Speaker on the 1st ballot !!!!!! A bit of drama as 2 Repubs needed some arm twisting before the 1st ballot closed. But they were persuaded to vote for Johnson. That left only Massie voting against him.

[jlisenbe]

How large is the repub majority in the House? I've heard it is only one seat. Is that correct?

[tomder55]

They started with a 5 seat majority . Then they had resignations of Gaetz ;Waltz and Stefanik that will need to be filled by a special election.

They have 2 votes to spare .Trump appears to understand his role with the legislative branch better . His first term he relied on Paul Ryan and Yertle too much . Johnson ,Thune ,and VP Vance will herd a more disciplined GOP group of cats .

[tomder55]

Putting the Repub majority further in jeopardy ;Rep Mark Green who is the House Homeland Security Chair ;has announced he is leaving Congress as soon as possible after the final budget bill is passed . He says he's been offered a job too good to pass up . Gov. Bill Lee has to call a special election within 10 days after the vacancy is official, with the general election to be held between 100 and 107 days after that. The seat is considered safely Republican. If all is done promptly it still means the Repubs will have one vote short for a few months .