Tag Archives: Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy

What Did You Get Done This Week?

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On Wednesday, The Federalist  posted an article about the federal budget discussions. Personally, I am not opposed to a government shutdown. During the rather drawn-out election of Kevin McCarthy, one of the things that was discussed (and I thought agreed to) was a return to the budget process requiring individual votes on the 12 appropriations bills that make up what’s known as the “omnibus package. This supposedly would be the end of the omnibus packages and the threat of government shutdowns.

On March 10, 2022, I posted the following:

Someone asked the website Quora when the last federal budget was passed using the conventional budget process.

The website posted the following answer:

Usually a President’s first year in Office is under the previous President’s budget. However knowing that Barack Obama was winning, the Congressional Democrats used Continuing Resolution to push the budget forward. With Obama in Office, they passed the full budget in April 2009. I think since then we have only operated in a world of continuing resolutions and an omnibus budget. After gaining the control of the congress in 2014, Republican promised to return to regular order and it hasn’t happened yet.

To answer your question, the 2007–08 budget was probably the last regular budget passed.

The Federalist reports:

While we gleefully await the federal government’s bankruptcy at the end of the month, here’s my favorite Elon Musk quote: “What did you get done this week?”

Every Republican in Congress should have to answer that question to the American taxpayer (you and me) before even thinking about giving another cent to Ukraine, the Pentagon, the DOJ, Health and Human Services, and every other department that is, at best, useless, and at worst, packed with paper pushers overtly harassing the people who pay their outsized salaries (you and me).

The Musk quote came in a strikingly similar context. In a text chat, some overpaid Twitter executive lectured him about the “internal distraction” that Musk’s public comments about the company had made after he purchased a large portion of its shares. “Next time we speak, I’d like to provide you perspective on the level of internal distraction right now and how it [sic] hurting our ability to do work,” the executive said.

“What did you get done this week?” Musk replied.

What makes it so good is that there is no answer to the question. Just some Twitter nerd versed only in talking about “optimization” (meaningless) and “company culture” (zero productivity value) blankly staring in a freeze.

The article concludes:

Members of Biden’s own party are dogging his open-border policies. Health and Human Services melted its own credibility on “science,” then recently flirted with recommending public masking again. The Justice Department is found out over and over again to be hostile toward the rule of law and the will of the people.

Which of the seven heads on this monstrosity is even bothering to smile at me? Why would I care if the federal government is funded when it does nothing for me? What’s worse, it functions in ways that make clear it deeply resents me.

Tell me, Republicans. What did you get done this week?

That’s a really good question.

 

 

Let The Games Begin

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On September 12th, Townhall reported that Republicans were opening an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden. This is an awkward situation. The impeachments of President Trump were purely political. There was very little actual information behind them. This time we have a lot of information, but we need to make impeachment look apolitical. I suspect that the Democrats will do everything possible to avoid that happening.

The article reports:

“We have found that President Biden did lie about his own knowledge of his family’s foreign business dealings,” McCarthy explained, and “joined on multiple phone calls — and multiple interactions — with Hunter’s business partners,” the Speaker recounted of the evidence already uncovered by House committees.

“Bank records show that nearly $20 million in payments were directed to the Biden’s family members and associates through various shell companies,” McCarthy continued, emphasizing that more than 150 transactions involving the Biden family and other business associates were flagged in “Suspicious Activity Reports” by U.S. banks.

“Even a trusted FBI informant has alleged a bribe to the Biden family,” the Speaker said of revelations that arose from the FBI-generated FD-1023 form the Biden administration attempted to keep hidden from lawmakers and the American people.

“Despite the serious allegations, it appears that the president’s family has been offered special treatment by Biden’s own administration,” McCarthy noted of the kid-glove treatment for Hunter and others privileged to have the Biden name.

“These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption,” said McCarthy.

“Today, I am directing our House committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden,” the House Speaker said of this “logical next step” which “will give our committees the full power to gather all the facts” about President Biden and his family’s activities.

This probably needs to be done, but it is a road filled with minefields. President Biden may actually become a sympathetic character as his slips further into the mental challenges he has exhibited in recent years. There will also be cries of ‘it’s political’ regardless of how much evidence turns up. This is something to follow closely. I don’t want to see either party get away with sweeping any criminal activity that occurred under the rug.

Something To Watch Closely

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Today, MSN reported that protesters had taken over Speaker McCarthy’s office and had to be dragged out by police.

The article reports:

Protesters stormed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s Congressional office on Tuesday, demanding that he and other House Republicans re-up funding for an AIDs relief program.

Protesters with Housing Works pressed their way into McCarthy’s office and refused to move until Capitol Hill Police arrived and arrested them. The group was demanding a 5-year reauthorization of the PEPFAR global AIDs relief program, which they say has saved “25 million lives.”

…McCarthy’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the incident, but Capitol Police confirmed to Fox News Digital that they arrested seven individuals.

“This morning, multiple individuals were demonstrating inside a House Office Building. After the demonstrators refused to cease demonstrating, USCP then arrested the 4 males and 3 females for Unlawful Entry,” Capitol Police said in a statement.

There are a few things here that need to be noted. The protesters actually came into the Speaker’s office and disobeyed requests to leave. They had to be escorted out and arrested. Contrast that with the way people peacefully paraded through the Capitol on January 6th. Some of the people who did nothing more than walk through and take selfies are facing multiple-year jail terms. It will be interesting to see how the Justice Department treats the people who were actually in the Speaker’s office and refused to leave versus the people who not only walked peacefully through the Capitol but left the Capitol when they were asked to do so.

I have no idea why the Republicans in Congress are too cowardly to stand up for the January 6th political prisoners. Every morning, a Congressman should put a statement in the Congressional Record that the political prisoners are still being held. There should be a reminder on every newscast every night that there are political prisoners in America.

There is a poem all Americans need to remember. Below is a 1946 post-war confessional prose by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller:

The best-known versions of the confession in English are the edited versions in poetic form that began circulating by the 1950s.[1] The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum quotes the following text as one of the many poetic versions of the speech:[2][3]

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Sunlight Is The Best Disinfectant

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One does wonder what behind-the-scenes were made in order to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House. Many of us were doubtful as to whether Representative McCarthy represented the change we were looking for–the change from Republican broken promises and spinelessness. Well, so far I like what I see.

On Monday, Townhall reported the following:

Back in January, Leah reported on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s declaration that he believed the American people had a right to see all the footage from in and around the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. “I think the public should see what happened on that day,” McCarthy said last month. 

…Well, now it’s happening. And despite initial reports at the time saying that there were 14,000 hours of footage from cameras around the Capitol complex set to be released, it turns out there’s more — much more — and Speaker McCarthy is giving it exclusively to Fox News host Tucker Carlson. 

Axios scooped the news Monday morning, reporting that “Carlson TV producers were on Capitol Hill last week to begin digging through the trove, which includes multiple camera angles from all over Capitol grounds” and an expectation that “[e]xcerpts will begin airing in the coming weeks.”

Obviously this footage should have been released years ago (at least before the mid-term election), but I am happy to see it being released now. I suspect Tucker Carlson’s television ratings are about to go throught the roof.

The article concludes:

Speaking to Axios, Carlson said “there was never any legitimate reason for this footage to remain secret.” Thanks to Speaker McCarthy and Carlson, it won’t be a secret for long.

“If there was ever a question that’s in the public’s interest to know, it’s what actually happened on January 6,” Carlson added. “By definition, this video will reveal it. It’s impossible for me to understand why any honest person would be bothered by that.”

You can be sure there will be plenty of bothered caterwauling from Democrats and the mainstream media as the footage is released, but it’s little more than the groans of a political system that seems to feel physical pain whenever their narrative setting authority is usurped.

How To Respond To An Obnoxious Question From The Press

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On Thursday, Clash Daily posted an article illustrating how to handle a ‘gotcha’ question from the mainstream media. President Trump was an expert at that, but his fellow Republicans have generally not mastered the skill. Well, maybe that is changing.

The article reports:

Trump was the fearless take-a-beating-and-keep-on-coming politician that loved nothing better than a public brawl with his media opponent of the day. It was almost like exposure therapy. Republican politicians saw that, even when they throw everything they’ve got at you, you can live through it.

Here is McCarthy (Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House) demonstrating we’ve finally got an elected leader who has learned that lesson.

A reporter tries to get him on the record about the red-on-red comments in which Romney sought out Santos on the night of the SOTU so that he could do what he does best: deliver a self-righteous and petty snipe at someone on his side of the aisle.

The article includes the following Twitter post with video included:

Maybe I was wrong about McCarthy when I was not entirely happy that he was elected Speaker. I hope so.

Get Out The Popcorn

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In 2021 Marjorie Taylor Greene was removed from her committee assignments, an unprecedented step to discipline a member over past incendiary remarks. The vote was mostly along party lines. Incendiary remarks made by other Congressmen were conveniently ignored and no penalty paid. During his campaign for Speaker, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy promised to strip Democratic Representatives Ilhan Omar, Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell of their committee assignments. Obviously the Democrats are not planning to let this happen (unlike their Republican counterparts who have  no idea how to fight),

On Monday, Townhall reported the following:

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has officially selected Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) to the House Intelligence Committee. This is despite Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) promises he would not let that happen, setting up quite the likely showdown between the two party leaders. Earlier this afternoon, Rep. Schiff responded over Twitter, with just the kind of response you’d expect. 

The article includes screenshots of Representative Schiff and Representative Swalwell thanking Representative Jeffries for the nominations. The ball is now in Speaker McCarthy’s court. We are now going to see if he is willing to keep the promises he made. We are also going to see if it is worth it to elect Republicans.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE:  According to an article at Red State yesterday, Speaker McCarthy is standing his ground.