In my previous article, I highlighted the need for the GOP to kick out the “Freedom Caucus” for being nothing more then self-serving blowhards who are more worried about putting their faces on a camera then actually “governing.” Well its been a full week of the House GOP majority being in power, and its apparent that Kevin McCarthy sold his soul to the “Freedom Caucus” in order to become House Speaker. The legislation that the House GOP has introduced is pure symbolic nothingness in order to appease the fringes of the Party.
Every bill introduced by the House GOP does NOTHING to win the political hearts of general American People, which should have been at the very top of the agenda. Instead, the policies introduced were solely to rally the QAnon kooks on social media and provide a cheap high to those who champion these niche policies. The current list of meaningless legislation by the House GOP are as follows:
Rescinding new funding for the IRS
The bill would rescind $72 billion of the $80 billion for the Internal Revenue Service included in the Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ tax, health care and climate package. This was the very first symbolic bill introduced by the House GOP, I say symbolic because this will never pass the Senate and would certainly be vetoed by Joe Biden. Moreover, the reason the Democrats allocated these funds to the IRS was to take away the “fiscal” arguments given by Conservatives when it comes to DNC government spending. The IRS funding (and a future crypto tax) was put in the “Inflation Reduction Act” to actually pay for the legislation.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, rescinding the IRS funding will add $114 billion over the next 10 years. No where in the House GOP Bill does it provide an alternative to funding the Inflation Reduction Act (which marginalizes fiscal Conservatives in the Party), nor does it cut funding to the actual pork-barrel spending within the bill itself like the $400 billion in “clean energy,” the EV tax credit of up to $7,500 and $4,000 for new and used vehicles or eliminating the ability for Medicare to negotiate drug prices which is a scam to incrementally increase drug prices over time. The GOP won’t touch the previously mentioned because many of their States benefit of centralized allocation of wealth and production (and so does their donors).
All that aside, the House GOP passed this meaningless bill with a 221 to 210 vote along Party lines.
Establishing a select committee on competition with China
The House approved a resolution creating a “Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.” This committee is cosmetic in the short term, but dangerous in the long term. Its cosmetic because it makes it look like Congress is getting tough on China, but in reality its another arm of power for the Chinese to influence; no matter what Party is in charge.
Lest we forget that Democrats Diane Feinstein and Eric Swalwell (both of whom are on powerful committees) were outed as being compromised by Chinese operatives. And its not just a Democrat/China thing, GOP Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has also been outed as being influenced by China. Hence, why this committee was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support: 146 House Democrats — Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi among them — joined Republicans in approving the new committee.
So hold your applause for this dangerous nothingburger!
Establishing a select subcommittee on “weaponization of the federal government”
Unlike the bipartisan support for the resolution creating the select committee on competition with China, a separate measure establishing a select subcommittee “on the Weaponization of the Federal Government” was approved by the House solely with Republican backing. This sounds good in theory, but in reality it will allow this committee to comb over information on ANYONE or ANYTHING using data from all federal agencies.
The subcommittee will examine:
- the “expansive role of Article II authority” given to the executive branch to “collect information on or otherwise investigate citizens of the United States, including ongoing criminal investigations;”
- how federal agencies “work with, obtain information from, and provide information to the private sector, non-profit entities, or other government agencies to facilitate action against American citizens, including the extent, if any, to which illegal or improper, unconstitutional, or unethical activities were engaged in by the executive branch or private sector against citizens of the United States;”
- how federal agencies collect, compile, analyze, use or spread information about U.S. citizens;
- The laws, programs and activities of the executive branch as they relate to the collection of information on U.S. citizens and “the sources and methods used for the collection of information on citizens of the United States;”
- Other issues related to the violation of citizens’ civil liberties.
The measure also authorizes the Judiciary Committee chairman to issue subpoenas to be returned to the select subcommittee.
This is a recipe for disaster and a powerful mechanism for which ever Party is in charge. This gives unprecedented authority to this committee to use ALL federal agencies to compromise political and/or personal enemies of those on this committee. Its a literally a political weapon. Hence the name; SMH.
Condemning attacks on churches, anti-abortion rights facilities and groups
House GOP approved a resolution “expressing the sense of Congress condemning the recent attacks on pro-life facilities, groups and churches” by a vote of 222 to 209. This, yet again, is a symbolic nothingburger to appease QAnon supporters and fringe evangelicals. The FBI currently investigates ANY attack on ANY of the facilities mentioned in this resolution as a hate crime (Example 1, Example 2).
The resolutions declares the Congress:
- condemns recent attacks of vandalism, violence, and destruction against the targeted entities;
- “recognizes the sanctity of life and the important role pro-life facilities, groups, and churches play in supporting pregnant women, infants, and families;”
- calls on the Biden administration to use “all appropriate law enforcement authorities to uphold public safety and to protect the rights” of these organizations.
This bill does NOTHING for ANY American and is a waste of time, effort and energy. And its the kind of thing that discourages Americans on the political center to look the other way at the GOP; SMH.
Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
Why is the GOP keeping the abortion issue alive (no pun intended)? The Republicans have won the abortion issue when the Supreme Court overturned Roe. v. Wade. Continuing to push the abortion issue is political fuel for the Democrats, and a major issue of dissension to the general American voter.
The bill requires health care practitioners to provide care to infants who are born alive after an abortion or attempted abortion and ensure the baby is immediately transported and admitted to a hospital.
This is now a State’s issue and shouldn’t even be brought up at this point! By passing this bill in the House (220 to 210) it gives the Democrats a golden football to campaign and rally against the GOP on a national scale. It paints all GOP politicians as being obsessed with this issue even though, at the current time, it’s settled law that abortion is an issue for the State. The GOP needs to leave this issue at the State level and move on nationally to more important things the affects the general American person; SMH.
Prohibiting oil sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China
This proposal (hasn’t been passed during the writing of this article) bars the Department of Energy from selling oil from the SPR to any entity owned or controlled by China. The measure also requires the Energy Department to ensure any oil sold from the SPR will not be exported to China. This is yet another symbolic waste of time. The SPR is such a small insignificant amount of oil that is traded and consumed by America alone, the SPR itself is symbolic.
The SPR oil can be pumped at a maximum rate of 4.4 million barrels per day for up to 90 days. At 1 million barrels per day, releasing oil into the market could last approximately 1 ½ years. Yet, the U.S. consumes 19.98 million barrels on any given day. So as one can see, the SPR itself is symbolic to dupe the public.
If the House GOP was serious about China in the commodities market, then why not cut and/or prohibit agriculture and live stock sales to China? The general American public would instantly see the effects if such a bill was passed; food (which is at all time highs) would instantly come down in price and aid an economic ailing population. But the GOP or the DNC will never do that, and I’ll leave it up to you to figure out why. But even if such a such bill limiting ag/livestock to China didn’t pass, it would get America talking about the issue of lowering food cost; which affects us all. Hence, GOP win; SMH.
Keven McCarthy has lost control
The resolutions and bills mentioned previous are insights into what McCarthy had to submit to in order to become House Speaker. Instead of putting polices on the agenda that would make the GOP generally more appealing to America, the GOP is appeasing the fringe who’ve been seething since 2020. This is not good politics no matter how you look at it, and certainly doesn’t fare well to the GOP’s Presidential candidate in 2024.
The GOP needs a clear foundation on what it stands for because right now, it doesn’t really stand for anything. And the proof is in the pudding. This week was an opportunity for the GOP to reinvent itself post-Trump, and seize the moment to show America that the Republicans have their best interests are heart. Much like Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” which brought the GOP back from the brink, McCarthy should have had something like this up his sleeve. Its obvious at this point that he’s planned nothing and is allowing the kooks, weirdos and blowhards in the party to take the wheel. What a wasted opportunity!
But then again, why am I surprised? Kevin McCarthy, much like Nancy Pelosi, was put as House Speaker because of his ability to raise funds for the GOP and certainly not for his understanding of policy and institutions (like Gingrich). Moreover, McCarthy was once tapped to be House Speaker once before in 2015, but dropped out because he was allegedly doing the horizontal mambo with then North Carolina Rep. Renee Ellmers.
I don’t mean to be a doomer, but this is first week of the House GOP and it has already soured ALL 2024 races including the Presidency. On the bright side, Joe Biden will be out of the 2024 running because of this now damning classified document scandal. Keep in mind that U.S. Attorney General Garland has already appointed a special prosecutor in the Donald Trump classified document case, so things may just be getting interesting.
Ghost
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