The chaos is over, let the chaos begin.

Fair enough.

 

GOP’s Scalise ends his bid to become House speaker as Republican holdouts refuse to back the nominee

Republican Steve Scalise ended his bid to become House speaker late Thursday after hardline holdouts refused to back the party’s nominee, throwing the GOP majority into deeper chaos and leaving the chamber still unable to function.

Scalise told GOP colleagues at a closed-door evening meeting of his decision and pointedly declined to announce backing for anyone else, including his chief rival, Rep. Jim Jordan, the far-right Judiciary Committee chairman backed by Donald Trump who had already told colleagues he no longer would seek the job.

Next steps are uncertain as the House is essentially closed while the Republican majority tries to elect a speaker after ousting Kevin McCarthy from the job.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/12/gop...failing-to-secure-the-votes-to-win-gavel.html

The article says hardline holdouts refused to back him. We all know what that means. I'm really hoping there are some back channel communications between Dems and moderate Repubs but I can't see enough Repubs backing a moderate in the nominating process.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2023/10/...a-total-disgrace.html?&recirc=taboolainternal

 

Jordan to Face Off Against Scott for Speakership Amid Republican Fight

A little-known Republican emerged on Friday to challenge Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio in the raucous party feud over selecting a new speaker, underscoring the divisions that have left the House leaderless and paralyzed for more than a week.

Representative Austin Scott of Georgia, a mainstream conservative and ally of the ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, said he would seek the nomination. He effectively was putting himself forward as a protest candidate against Mr. Jordan, a hard-right Republican who is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

The surprise move promised to prolong the infighting that has raged among Republicans since a hard-right faction of Mr. Jordan’s supporters forced out Mr. McCarthy last week and then refused to back the party’s chosen successor, Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, for the post.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/us/politics/house-speaker-jordan-scalise.html

Don't know anything about Scott but he must be better than Mr. Crazy himself.......Gym Jordan.

 

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In what they are hailing as a consensus choice, House Republicans have nominated a college intern named Zach to be the new Speaker of the House.

The freshly minted G.O.P. nominee acknowledged that he was “kind of surprised” to be chosen as Speaker but said that he was “totally stoked about wielding that hammer."

“I’m, like, whoa—all of a sudden, I’m Thor,” he said. “This is gonna be dope.”

Zach, who is taking a year off from his studies at the Northern University of Southern Florida, is well liked within the G.O.P. conference, insiders said.

“Zach never screws up our coffee orders,” one Republican congressman said. “You couldn’t say the same for Kevin McCarthy.”
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/bor...f28fa98eea480c334&esrc=&utm_term=TNY_Borowitz

 

4 Democratic centrists to McHenry: Let's make a deal

Four top centrist Democrats on Friday sent a pitch to Acting Speaker Patrick McHenry: Let’s get the House working again.

In a letter to McHenry that was obtained by POLITICO, Democrats told him they support giving him “temporary, expanded authorities” that would allow the House to take up the most urgent bills — namely, government funding plans.
Specifically, the Democrats are proposing to let McHenry bring up any emergency aid for Ukraine or Israel, a short-term bill that extends government funding through Jan. 11, or general consideration of fiscal 2024 spending bills. Those powers should be limited to 15-day increments, they proposed, with extensions possible if the House GOP continues to remain without a leader.

In exchange, the Democratic quartet suggested, their party would be allowed to fill up 50 percent of the House's suspension calendar — which is reserved for noncontroversial bills and requires two-thirds votes for passage, not simple majorities.

4 Democratic centrists to McHenry: Let's make a deal
In a letter to McHenry that was obtained by POLITICO, the Democrats floated giving him “temporary, expanded authorities” -- in exchange for concessions.
www.politico.com

 

Jordan beats Scott in speaker race

The Ohio Republican was widely expected to prevail over his last-minute rival. He still remains short of the votes to secure the gavel on the floor.

By OLIVIA BEAVERS and JORDAIN CARNEY

10/13/2023, 4:06PM ET
Rep. Jim Jordan defeated Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) in a secret ballot vote on Friday, after House Republicans huddled behind closed doors to hear pitches from the two men.

The Ohioan was widely expected to emerge victorious from the conference meeting — only needing a majority of House Republicans to back him in order to become their speaker designee. He won with 124 votes, according to two sources familiar with the count, but he’ll need to meet a much higher bar of 217 to be elected speaker on the House floor.
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2023/10/13/congress/jordan-wins-00121525

Too bad.

 

‘This Is The Moment’: Some House Republicans Push To Expand McHenry’s Power Amid Speakership Circus

After yet another speaker nominee failed to get 217 votes on the House floor Tuesday, some House Republicans are eyeing a new way out of their self-induced dysfunction.

It would involve expanding the powers of Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had tapped at the beginning of the term to fill in temporarily, if he, for whatever reason, could no longer serve. While electing a permanent speaker remains elusive for the conference, a McHenry who can do more than preside over a series of failed speakership elections has piqued some interest.

Rep. Dan Crewnshaw (R-TX) told TPM as he left the chamber after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) fell well short of winning the gavel Tuesday afternoon that “there is some talk about that.”

“I’m not necessarily opposed to it,” he said. “It gives us some breathing room.”
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/house-republican-speaker-mchenry

Thank goodness there are 20 Repubs who have not completely lost their minds.

 

Jim Jordan backs plan to empower interim House speaker Patrick McHenry until January

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio will back a plan to empower interim House Speaker Patrick McHenry until January, sources told NBC News and CNBC Thursday.

The plan to temporarily empower McHenry to oversee the passage of legislation would act as a bridge until the deeply divided Republican conference can coalesce around a permanent replacement.

McHenry’s current powers as interim speaker are limited as Congress faces a ticking clock to pass spending legislation by Nov. 17 to avoid a government shutdown. President Joe Biden has also urged lawmakers to pass emergency security assistance for Israel as the Middle East descends into war.

Rep. David Joyce of Ohio said earlier this week that he plans to introduce a resolution to empower McHenry so the House can move forward with urgent business.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/19/jim...se-speaker-patrick-mchenry-until-january.html

Repubs broke the House. More specifically, MAGA Repubs.

 

Fake News, Bribed Joe and the Dems with 3 $T boondoggles broke the nation and now we're drowning in debt.

 

Taken together, the Bush tax cuts, their bipartisan extensions, and the Trump tax cuts, have cost $10 trillion since their creation and are responsible for 57 percent of the increase in the debt ratio since then. They are responsible for more than 90 percent of the increase in the debt ratio if you exclude the one-time costs for responding to COVID-19 and the Great Recession. While these one-time costs increased the level of debt, they did nothing to affect the trajectory of the debt ratio.
https://www.americanprogress.org/ar....-,The Trump tax cuts,end of fiscal year 2023.

 

A quarter century ago? Good Lord man, find a calendar.

We're looking for solutions for the issues today, not those back when you wuz a youngin'.

 

There is a pretty significant difference between Kevin's quest to be the Speaker, and Jordan's. Kevin humiliated himself by being willing to give away the store to the most radical extremists in the Republican caucus in order to secure the gavel. With Jordan it seems to be all about bullying. Bullying from him, from Sean Hannity, and of course from the Orange Fraud. Not to mention that some of the 22 members who voted against Jordan have been receiving threats of violence from Trump's mob.

 

Jim Jordan loses third speaker vote with no end in sight for House leadership crisis

Rep. Jim Jordan’s bid to become speaker failed for a third time on Friday, with no end in sight to the House leadership vacuum as Congress faces a deadline to avoid a government shutdown and the White House calls for urgent security assistance for Israel.

Jordan has insisted on remaining in the race despite failing repeatedly to secure the gavel as support for his bid erodes further with each consecutive vote. This time, 25 Republicans voted against Jordan, who boasts the support of former President Donald Trump. Twenty-two voted against him in the previous vote.

Earlier Friday, Jordan indicated he will keep pushing into the weekend. He alluded to the 15 rounds of voting that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy needed before securing the gavel.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/20/jim-jordan-house-speaker-gop-turmoil.html

Bullying and intimidation didn't work.

 

The clown car is heading for a cliff with the country tied up in the trunk.

Jim Jordan no longer GOP speaker nominee after third defeat on House floor

Republican lawmakers on Friday ditched Rep. Jim Jordan as their nominee for speaker of the House of Representatives after his bid to secure the gavel failed for a third time, multiple GOP sources told CNBC.

It is unclear who the GOP will nominate next and whether any Republican candidate can secure the votes needed to become speaker. The House of Representatives has been leaderless for well over two weeks now, with no end in sight as Congress faces a deadline to avoid a government shutdown and the White House calls for urgent security assistance for Israel.

Jordan had insisted on remaining in the race despite failing repeatedly to secure the gavel as support for his bid erodes further with each consecutive vote. This time, 25 Republicans voted against Jordan, who boasts the support of former President Donald Trump. Twenty-two voted against him in the previous vote.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/20/jim-jordan-house-speaker-gop-turmoil.html

 

Rep. Tom Emmer nominated by GOP for House speaker

Republican lawmakers on Tuesday nominated Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota for speaker of the House of the Representatives, the third candidate they have selected in recent weeks after the previous two nominees failed to secure enough votes.

Emmer, the Republican majority whip, prevailed over a crowded field of eight GOP candidates after several rounds of voting. Interim Speaker Patrick McHenry has said the nominee could face a vote before the House floor as soon as Tuesday.

It is unclear if Emmer can secure the 217 Republican votes needed on the House floor. He can only afford to lose four GOP votes, as Democrats have lined up in lockstep behind their nominee, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/24/house-gop-speaker-vote.html

Emmer has two things going against him among the MAGAnuts. He voted to certify Biden's election and Trump has been working behind the scenes to keep him from becoming Speaker.

 

Charlie sums it up.

 

Seeing a headline cross that Emmer is out. The clown car is running out of spares.

 

Mike Johnson elected House speaker, putting Louisiana Republican in the spotlight

Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana was elected speaker of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, ending a three-week leadership crisis that has paralyzed Congress.

Vice chairman of the House Republican conference and a hard-right conservative, Johnson had maintained a low public profile until he was thrust into the spotlight this week after securing the party’s nomination for speaker.

Johnson was elected unanimously by the 220 Republicans who voted, despite being the fourth nominee tapped by the GOP conference in two weeks, as the deeply divided party repeatedly failed to put forward a candidate who had enough support.

“It has been an arduous few weeks, and a reminder that the House is as complicated and diverse as the people we represent,” Johnson said in a post on the social media platform “X.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/25/mik...er-louisiana-republican-in-the-spotlight.html

The Crazy has found their man. Now let the next phase of chaos begin as the House refuses to fund the government.

 

Has anyone lost the vote for the Speakership more times that Hakeem?

Johnson just skunked him 220-209.

 

Proposed Cuts to IRS Enforcement Would Add $24 Billion to Deficit, CBO Finds
https://www.budget.senate.gov/chair...ent-would-add-24-billion-to-deficit-cbo-finds

The reason this is notable, besides being self defeating to the goal of deficit reduction, is this hairbrained idea was the first order of biz proposed by Mike. Of all the issues on the House's plate Mike prioritized helping rich folks cheat on their taxes. While it may come as welcome news to Repubs that favoring the rich remains very high on the to do list it is not an encouraging message for the rest of the country.

 

House abruptly heads home early after conservatives retaliate over Johnson's government funding plan

WASHINGTON – House lawmakers abruptly went home a day early partially due to a familiar sight for the House Republican conference: a rebellion from the lower chamber’s most conservative lawmakers.

The quick departure came just one day after passing a short-term stopgap measure to avert a government shutdown.

Some 19 Republicans, mostly comprised of members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, tanked a procedural vote Wednesday morning. The procedural vote – referred to as a rule vote – has traditionally passed along party lines regardless of any member’s support or opposition to the bill’s rule.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ve-retaliate-government-shutdown/71595189007/

I still think Messiah Mike's job is safe as even the Crazy doesn't want round 5 of the circus.

 

House Ethics Committee Releases Report On George Santos

The House Ethics Committee unanimously found “substantial evidence” that Rep. George Santos (R-NY) committed federal crimes, it said in a Thursday report which portrayed the congressman as a “fabulist” and “high roller” who spent campaign money on botox, trips to Las Vegas and Atlantic City, and designer clothing.

Santos “blatantly stole from his campaign” and “cannot be trusted,” the committee report said.

About an hour after the report’s release, Santos responded to it with a tweet saying he would not seek re-election next year, but not before blasting the investigation as “biased” and complaining of his legal bills. Santos didn’t return a request for comment via text, including asking whether he wanted to specifically refute any allegations.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/house-ethics-committee-releases-report-on-george-santos

One leg of the two legged stool keeping Repubs from expelling George has been kicked out from under them.