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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   27694 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 23, 2023

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Coming to the end of our third week without a Speaker in the United States House of Representatives.

We started the day with something like nine Republican candidates in the running. Eventually this was narrowed down to one by internal Conference voting. Then a sufficient number of Reps said they would refuse to vote for the winner on the floor anyway so now we're back to... internal Conference voting! I seriously do not understand the point of these votes. If Reps won't honor the result in sufficient numbers such that the winner can't actually be elected what purpose is the internal vote serving? I thought it was a meme when I someone on Twitter say (paraphrasing): "There are only two results some GOP Reps accept: We win and try again." Apparently their may be some kind of discussion about a joint Speakership between McCarthy and Jordan? I'm pretty sure Speaker of the House is a constitutional position, it has to be one of them. Would each candidates opponents really trust whoever was actually the Speaker? I can feel Hakeem Jeffries odds rising in real time.

We're about 3 weeks out from the end of the current CR on 11/17. There's some dark comedy in Kevin McCarthy losing his Speakership to avoid a government shutdown and then we have a government shutdown anyway. At least it'll be after Virginia elections so maybe Republicans can do well there!

Congress hasn't done anything in decades, there's no reason any of us should care about this sideshow.

This is just very obviously false? They fund the executive branch every year. There have been a bunch of changes in tax rates. The Affordable Care Act. Congress has passed tons of substantive legislation these last "decades."

They fund the executive branch every year.

Wheeeeeee!

Not enough effort. Please don't post like this.

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