Even European press is upfront saying the US government is shutting down because Kevin McCarthy is a terrible house speaker. And since being the speaker is all McCarthy has ever wanted I'm REALLY enjoying that aspect of this mess.
Im in the US and looking forward to another 15 rounds of voting for a new speaker.
Is he a terrible speaker? Or did he launch himself headfirst into an impossible situation? Not to defend him, but I don't think anyone put in the speakership with this Congress would be thriving.
Any other speaker would put together a continuing resolution that he'd be able to sell to every republican except the freedom caucus, then get 5 democrats in purple districts to vote for it and agree to back him when Gates then motioned to remove him as speaker. Republicans would have lost no real face except the insurrection caucus, who would have been left impotent for at least a few months. He's had 2 opportunities to do this, at one point the dems were basically offering it on a silver platter (by talking to press about the possibility).
You're putting way too much good faith into the Republican party. Way more than just the insurrection party are refusing to take part in any speaker vote that receives bipartisan support. They see collaboration as a poison pill. No one is surviving with the single vote guillotine, which is why it's such a stupid ducking rule in the first place and had never been done before.
I guess as a Canadian, my question is (pre-brain issues) what made Mitch McConnell have such a stranglehold over the Senate in comparison? Is it just that McCarthy has razor thin margins in the House? I think Mitch would have been able to whip the votes to get the party to do what he wanted. How is McCarthy different?
And ps this system of constantly having to vote to avoid Government shutdown seems really dumb from an outsider perspective…
Biggest thing is that the Senate is populated with much more experienced Congresspeople, who have much longer election cycles. They don't need to grab the headlines constantly to keep top of mind for their constituents.
I'd say there's another portion that's because things have simply gotten that much crazier in the last handful of years. Some congressman don't have any shame as to their brazen sand in the gears.
Voting to avoid shutdown is really dumb from an insider perspective too. But the party that loves to do nothing refuses to change the rules to have an automatic continuing resolution without a budget. And any change to require "automatic vote of no confidence" would have to be a constitutional amendment, and thus will never happen.
Even European press is upfront saying the US government is shutting down because Kevin McCarthy is a terrible house speaker. And since being the speaker is all McCarthy has ever wanted I'm REALLY enjoying that aspect of this mess.
Im in the US and looking forward to another 15 rounds of voting for a new speaker.
The Bad Lip Reading video may not be funnier than the original this time
Is he a terrible speaker? Or did he launch himself headfirst into an impossible situation? Not to defend him, but I don't think anyone put in the speakership with this Congress would be thriving.
Any other speaker would put together a continuing resolution that he'd be able to sell to every republican except the freedom caucus, then get 5 democrats in purple districts to vote for it and agree to back him when Gates then motioned to remove him as speaker. Republicans would have lost no real face except the insurrection caucus, who would have been left impotent for at least a few months. He's had 2 opportunities to do this, at one point the dems were basically offering it on a silver platter (by talking to press about the possibility).
You're putting way too much good faith into the Republican party. Way more than just the insurrection party are refusing to take part in any speaker vote that receives bipartisan support. They see collaboration as a poison pill. No one is surviving with the single vote guillotine, which is why it's such a stupid ducking rule in the first place and had never been done before.
I guess as a Canadian, my question is (pre-brain issues) what made Mitch McConnell have such a stranglehold over the Senate in comparison? Is it just that McCarthy has razor thin margins in the House? I think Mitch would have been able to whip the votes to get the party to do what he wanted. How is McCarthy different?
And ps this system of constantly having to vote to avoid Government shutdown seems really dumb from an outsider perspective…
Biggest thing is that the Senate is populated with much more experienced Congresspeople, who have much longer election cycles. They don't need to grab the headlines constantly to keep top of mind for their constituents.
I'd say there's another portion that's because things have simply gotten that much crazier in the last handful of years. Some congressman don't have any shame as to their brazen sand in the gears.
Voting to avoid shutdown is really dumb from an insider perspective too. But the party that loves to do nothing refuses to change the rules to have an automatic continuing resolution without a budget. And any change to require "automatic vote of no confidence" would have to be a constitutional amendment, and thus will never happen.