Gary Palmer holds meet-and-greet town halls
Congressman Gary Palmer (R-AL06) was back home in the district this week. Palmer, his wife, Ann, and his staff hosted meet-and-greet format town halls with constituents in Alabaster on Monday and Trussville on Wednesday. Alabama Today caught up with Palmer on Wednesday in Trussville. Despite severe weather, approximately 80 people attended the Trussville Civic Center for the congressional town hall. “I was here Friday for the Prayer Breakfast, and it is still raining,” Palmer said. “Trussville is growing. I am really excited about the direction we are going.” Trussville Mayor Buddy Choat said, “Thanks for taking the time to come out and meet with us. Welcome back to you, your wife, and staff.” Palmer told the residents that construction would resume again on the long-delayed Northern Beltline. “It won’t be I-459 – I think it will be I-422,” Palmer said. “I think it will make a big difference.” “In just eight years, Birmingham has gone from the number one city in Alabama to number three,” Palmer continued. “I think that is because we have not been bringing in the companies like we should have.” Palmer said that it is important to attract companies and jobs for this area rather than them going to Charlotte or Dallas, “so you don’t have to fly to Dallas to meet the grandkids.” Palmer said that he brought his D.C. staff out to meet the people of the district because “they need to meet the people that they work for: you.” “Thank you for coming,” Palmer said. “We have the Washington staff as well as the district staff. I chair the Republic Policy Committee, so I also have the Committee staff.” “Ethan Vice is my District Director, while William Smith is my Chief of Staff,” Palmer said as he introduced the various members of his staff. “These are some of the absolute best people that I have ever worked with across the board. I am blessed to work with them.” Palmer said that if a constituent has a question about a veteran’s benefits issue, he has a staff person there who specializes in that and a staff person who specializes in IRS issues. Palmer made reference to the growing passport delay situation. Palmer said he has staff that specializes in passport issues. “We get about fifty of those calls a day.” The renewing, issuing, and replacing lost or stolen passports has become a major issue. The State Department is months behind on the work. If you are planning on international travel within the next ten to twelve months, apply for a passport or passport renewal as soon as possible due to the bureaucratic delays and new European security rules that will not allow American visitors whose passports will expire within the next three months. State Representative Danny Garrett (R-Trussville) was also there to chat with constituents. Palmer grew up on a small farm in Hackleburg in North Alabama. He attended the University of Alabama and played football for then-head football Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. He co-founded the Alabama Policy Institute (API) with Tom Parker, which he headed for over 25 years. In 2014, when Congressman Spencer Bachus announced his retirement, Palmer entered the crowded Republican field to replace Bachus. Palmer and then State Representative Paul DeMarco advanced to the Republican primary runoff, where Palmer prevailed. Palmer advanced in the Republican leadership under then Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Ohio) to head of the Republican Policy Committee. Palmer recently announced that he is seeking a sixth term representing Alabama’s Sixth Congressional District. CD-06 presently includes all or parts of Shelby, Jefferson, Blount, Bibb, and Chilton Counties. In the map that the Legislature passed three weeks ago, the district would lose Blount County but would pick up parts of Autauga and part of Elmore counties. That map, like the previous map, is currently being challenged in federal court by civil rights activists. The ongoing legal saga means that there is currently a great deal of uncertainty about what those congressional districts will actually look like in next year’s election. The major party primaries will be on March 5. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Daniel Sutter: The challenge of political compromise
Kevin McCarthy reached a debt ceiling compromise with President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Unsurprisingly, fiscally conservative Republicans are criticizing the Speaker. Economics helps us understand the challenges in attaining the best bargain possible under given circumstances. House Republicans’ Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 revealed their debt ceiling wish list. Items included: rolling back discretionary spending and capping its growth, reclaiming unspent COVID funds, ending the student loan repayment pause and cancelation, rescinding the hiring of new IRS agents, repealing the Inflation Reduction Act’s alternative energy subsidies, and strengthening work requirements for Medicaid and food stamps. Bargaining models offer several insights. The more patient bargainer, the one able to stay at the table longer, gets better terms. The party making the last offer has an advantage. A better payoff if no agreement is reached helps a party negotiate better terms. And failed negotiations result from imperfect information when one or both parties mistakenly think the other will accept bad terms. A government shutdown or default on U.S. Treasury Securities was the outcome from no agreement. The payoff for each side in this event would be voters’ allocation of blame. The negotiating process itself could affect this; voters might blame and punish in 2024 a party refusing to bargain. Neither side wants the other to think they will accept bad terms. This illuminates the Biden Administration suggesting challenging the constitutionality of the debt ceiling law before the negotiations. Successfully executing a ruse is difficult, as small tells reveal to a shrewd negotiator a willingness to accept less favorable terms. Speaker McCarthy and Senator Schumer both represented others who had to approve a deal. Representation creates a way to appear inflexible. Many union leaders have told management that their members would never accept given terms. People not in the room cannot give off any tells. Studying economic models only helps so much. A good negotiator must be able to put insights to work in real bargaining. Political bargaining is difficult for a second reason, namely, discerning which goals to compromise on. A deal including every item in the Fiscal Responsibility Act is clearly good. Deciding which goal to not compromise or whether a half measure advances a goal is much more complicated. Bargainers inevitably face Monday morning quarterbacking. Every Republican can claim he or she would have gotten a better deal. We cannot replay this negotiation with another Republican in charge, making such claims untestable. Compromise is often unsatisfying. People who care strongly about a vision of a good society and the government policies needed to implement this vision will dislike compromising their values. We admire frequently uncompromising politicians. The changing media environment over the past forty years – talk radio, cable news, the internet, YouTube, and live streaming – have given voice to purists on the left and right. Republicans think that uncompromising leaders – instead of Bob Dole, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, or now Speaker McCarthy – would put liberals in their place! This criticism confuses consistency in personal life and politics. We can always live by our personal values. We can always conduct our business and professional affairs by our (hopefully high) standards or treat others with decency and respect. Politics is the making of government decisions affecting everyone. Liberals and conservatives cannot both implement the policies needed to attain their visions. America is a liberal democracy based on the moral equality of citizens. This implies that only the consent of the governed legitimates government and that all citizens should consent. Only compromise between the values of the left and right can secure consent of all the governed. Advocates of no-compromise politics seemingly do not view those they would impose upon as their moral equals. Did Speaker McCarthy get a good deal? Only political insiders can possibly judge this. The willingness to negotiate a deal acceptable to both sides is good news if we want America to remain a liberal democracy. Daniel Sutter is the Charles G. Koch Professor of Economics with the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University and host of Econversations on TrojanVision. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of Troy University.
Joe Guzzardi: Clock ticking on Alejandro Mayorkas; House files impeachment articles
The 118th Congress had barely convened before the Senate’s amnesty addicts traveled to the border and began pontificating about the bipartisan immigration action they were about to embark upon. Whenever Congress touts bipartisanship as it relates to immigration, the sub rosa message is that amnesty legislation, which Americans have consistently rejected, is percolating. Neither amnesty’s failed history – countless futile efforts since the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act – nor the Republican-controlled House of Representatives stopped determined Senators Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), Mark Kelly, (D-Ariz.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). Tillis tipped off the group’s hand when he said, “It’s not just about border security; it’s not just about a path to citizenship or some certainty for a population.” One of those populations would be the “Dreamers,” with a 20-year-long failed legislative record. Sinema took advantage of the border trip to promote her failed amnesty, her leftovers from the December Lame Duck session, a three-week period when radical immigration legislation usually finds a home. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) tweeted that “our immigration system is badly broken…” drivel that’s been repeated so often it’s lost whatever meaning it once may have had. The immigration system is “badly broken,” to quote Coons, because immigration laws have been ignored for decades. Critics laughingly call the out-of-touch, border-visiting senators the “Sell-Out Safari.” Coons’ tweet is classic duplicity. Coons, Sinema, Kelly, and Murphy have consistently voted against measures to enforce border security and against fortifying the interior by providing more agents and by giving more authority to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Republicans Tillis and Cornyn are also immigration expansionists. Tillis worked with Sinema on her unsuccessful Lame Duck amnesty. Cornyn sponsored, with Sinema and Tillis as cosponsors, the “Bipartisan Border Solutions” bill that would have built more processing centers to expedite migrants’ release and to create a “fairer and more efficient” way to decide asylum cases. The bill, which never got off the ground, would have rolled out the red carpet to more prospective migrants at a time when the border is under siege. The good news is that the border safari, an updated version of the 2013 Gang of Eight that promoted but couldn’t deliver an amnesty, was a cheap photo op that intended to reflect concern about the border crisis when, in fact, the senators’ voting records prove that the invasion doesn’t trouble them in the least. More good news is that Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the new Speaker of the House, represents enforcement proponents’ best chance to move their agenda forward since 2007 when Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) first held the job. Republicans John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) followed Pelosi from 2011 to 2019 when Pelosi returned as Speaker. Although Boehner and Ryan are Republicans, their commitment to higher immigration levels was not much different than Pelosi’s. Boehner and Ryan received 0 percent scores on immigration, meaning that they favor looser immigration enforcement and more employment-based visas for foreign-born workers. Also in McCarthy’s favor is the public support for tightening the border. Polls taken in September 2022 showed that a majority of Americans, including 76 percent of Republicans and 55 percent of Independents, thought President Joe Biden should be doing more to ensure border security. Moreover, a plurality of Americans opposes using tax dollars to transport migrants, a common practice in the Biden catch-and-release era. McCarthy must become more proactive and make good on his November call for the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to resign or face impeachment. “He cannot and must not remain in that position,” McCarthy said. “If Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action, and every failure to determine whether we can begin an impeachment inquiry.” McCarthy has the backing of the Chairmen of the Judiciary and Oversight Committees, Jim Jordan and James Comer. On January 9, Pat Fallon (R-Texas) filed articles of impeachment that charged Mayorkas with, among other offenses, “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Mayorkas insists he won’t resign and that he’s prepared for whatever investigations may come his way. Assuming the House presses on, and that the DHS secretary remains committed to keeping his post, Capitol Hill fireworks are assured, the fallout from which could lead to Mayorkas’ departure. Joe Guzzardi is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist who writes about immigration and related social issues. Joe joined Progressives for Immigration Reform in 2018 as an analyst after a ten-year career directing media relations for Californians for Population Stabilization, where he also was a Senior Writing Fellow. A native Californian, Joe now lives in Pennsylvania. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.
Kevin McCarthy elected the 55th Speaker of the House
Congressman Kevin McCarthy became the 55th Speaker of the House early Saturday on the 15th ballot. McCarthy prevailed 216 to 212 for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Six hardline Republican dissidents voted present, lowering the threshold needed to win to just 215 votes. Democratic incumbent Donald McEachin lost his battle with cancer after re-election; thus, the number of Congress members in the body is 434 instead of 435. “You know – my father always told me: It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” McCarthy said in his acceptance speech. “And now we need to finish strong for the American people. If the son of a fireman and grandchild of immigrants can rise to the highest position in the most important legislative body in the world. And if my colleague Hakeem Jeffries, with his life story, can rise to lead his party, then opportunity and democracy still thrive in America.” “As Speaker of the House, my ultimate responsibility is not to my party, my conference, or even our Congress. My responsibility – our responsibility – is to our country,” McCarthy said. “Two months ago, you voted for a new direction for our country. You embraced our Commitment to America. And now, we are going to keep our commitment to you. It’s a commitment for an economy that is strong – where you can fill up your tank and feed your family, where paychecks grow, not shrink. A commitment for a nation that’s safe – where communities are protected, law enforcement is respected, and criminals are prosecuted. A commitment for a future that is built on freedom – where children come first and are taught to dream big because, in America, dreams can still come true. A commitment for a government that is accountable – where Americans get the answers they want, need, and deserve.” “Our system is built on checks and balances,” McCarthy continued. “It’s time for us to be the check and provide some balance to the President’s policies. There is nothing more important than making it possible for American families to live and enjoy the lives they deserve. That is why we commit to stop wasteful Washington spending to lower the price of groceries, gas, cars, and housing and stop the rising national debt. We pledge to cut the regulatory burden, lower energy costs for families, and create good-paying jobs for workers by unleashing reliable, abundant American-made energy. Our first bill will repeal funding for 87,000 new IRS agents. Because the government should be here to help you, not go after you. We’re going to pass bills to fix the nation’s urgent challenges – from the wide open southern border to America-Last energy policies to woke indoctrination in our schools. We will also address America’s long-term challenges: the debt and the Chinese Communist Party. Congress must speak with one voice on both of these issues.” Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers drew national headlines during the 14th vote when he had to be restrained by incoming National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Rep. Richard Hudson from coming after Rep. Matt Gaetz, who had voted present on the 14th vote and refused to change his vote to in favor of McCarthy. Rogers has called the dissident Republicans who opposed McCarthy and the will of 90% of the House Republican Caucus “legislative terrorists.” Rogers is expected to be the Chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee. What punishment will be levied against Rogers, if any, for his outburst on the floor of the House is unknown at this time. Matt Gaetz wrote on Twitter yesterday, “@RepMikeRogersAL and I have a six-year productive, working relationship. We’re going to work together wonderfully going forward. I don’t think there should be any punishment or reprisal just because he had an animated moment. He has my forgiveness.” Rogers responded to Gaetz on Twitter, stating, “@RepMattGaetz and I have a long and productive working relationship, that I am sure will continue. I regret that I briefly lost my temper on the House Floor Friday evening and appreciate Matt’s kind understanding.” All six of Alabama’s Republican Congressmen were unwavering in their steadfast support of McCarthy on all 15 of the votes in the House of Representatives that have been occurring since the start of the 118th Congress on Tuesday. Congresswoman Terri Sewell, Alabama’s only Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation – voted for Jeffries. Whatever happened between Rogers and Gaetz worked. Republicans were about to adjourn until Monday when Gaetz approached McCarthy and asked that the House hold one more vote. All six of the remaining holdouts flipped to vote present, allowing McCarthy to win on the 15th ballot. The historic drama of the 15 votes for Speaker of the House and McCarthy’s steadfast refusal to stand aside and allow someone else to run for Speaker – something he did in 2015 giving us Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who was Speaker from 2015 to 2018 – became a selling point for the election of McCarthy. No Speaker has needed a second vote since 1923. Rep. Patrick McHenry, a longtime friend of McCarthy, gave the 15th nominating speech for McCarthy. “He’s relentless. The man does not quit,” McHenry said of McCarthy. President Joe Biden released a statement congratulating McCarthy following the early Saturday vote. “Jill and I congratulate Kevin McCarthy on his election as Speaker of the House,” Biden said. “The American people expect their leaders to govern in a way that puts their needs above all else, and that is what we need to do now. As I said after the midterms, I am prepared to work with Republicans when I can, and voters made clear that they expect Republicans to be prepared to work with me as well. Now that the leadership of the House of Representatives has been decided, it is time for that process to begin.” “Today we learned that my plan to build an economy that works from the bottom up and the middle out has achieved the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years,” Biden continued. “And that we made 2021 and 2022 the best
Kevin McCarthy fails to win House Speakership after 11 votes
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to choose its next Speaker of the House. Ninety percent of House Republicans, including all of the Congressional Republicans from Alabama, voted to make longtime House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy the Speaker, but that was still far short of the 218 votes needed to elect McCarthy Speaker. The 11:00 am CST Speaker of the House vote was followed by four more votes before the House adjourned until Friday. The four failed Speaker votes on Thursday, followed three votes on Wednesday and three on Tuesday, for a total of 11 failed Speaker elections to this point. The small group of ultra-conservative Republicans in the House that oppose McCarthy are led by Reps. Andy Biggs, Matt Gaetz, and Bob Good. They insist that they can hold out indefinitely and will not be swayed by critics to soften their stand against McCarthy, whom they view as too moderate. Democrats, on the other hand, have voted unanimously for their new leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. Congresswoman Terri Sewell has voted for Jeffries. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez has told reporters that House Democrats will not help elect McCarthy. Alabama’s Republican Congressmen Jerry Carl, Barry Moore, Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt, Dale Strong, and Gary Palmer have all steadfastly supported McCarthy throughout this process. “I am supporting Kevin McCarthy in the House the entire time,” said Barry Moore in a video statement on Facebook. “We have been working on trying to get a consensus on who the Speaker will be.” “I have been with Kevin because I said I would be with Kevin,” Moore said. “I have told Kevin that he has my support.” The House cannot conduct business until it has a Speaker in place, so essentially, the first, second, and third days of the 118th Congress accomplished nothing. House committee staff may not get paid if the House does not pass rules for the 118th Congress – something that it can’t do until after the House has a Speaker. According to a memo released Thursday, the deadline for passing the rules package is next Friday. “Committees need to be aware that should a House Rules package not be adopted by end of business on January 13, no committee will be able to process payroll since the committee’s authority for the new Congress is not yet confirmed,” the memo said. Without a Speaker of the House, House Republicans’ expansive agenda can’t move forward. New members, including Alabama’s Dale Strong, have been unable to even be sworn in. The incoming chairs for the Intelligence, Armed Services, and Foreign Affairs committees are blocked from attending classified national security briefings until the rules are adopted for the 118th Congress, and committee chairs are formally appointed by the Speaker. McCarthy’s inability to even get a vote of support from the squabbling members of his own caucus has called into question whether or not he will be able to effectively lead the majority party moving forward – even if he is chosen as the next Speaker of the House. McCarthy and his allies have shown no sign of bringing forward a new candidate. McCarthy was previously passed over for Speaker in 2015 after ultraconservatives objected. Congressman Paul Ryan was chosen as Speaker then. This is the first time since 1923 that the Speaker of the House was not chosen on the first vote. There has not been this many failed votes on the Speaker since the Civil War. The House of Representatives will convene on Friday at 11:00 am CST to vote for a twelfth time. “I guarantee this much – it will be better than Nancy Pelosi,” Moore said, acknowledging that he was not sure who would ultimately get the Speakership. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Alabama’s Republican Congressmen support Kevin McCarthy
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted six times to pick the next Speaker of the House, and Republicans have failed to reach a consensus on who will lead the body for the 118th Congress. Six times Republicans have been divided on who they want to lead the body and have been unable to come to a conclusion. Most of the Republicans in the body, including all six Republican members of the Alabama congressional delegation, have voted for California Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-California), but 19 members led by Reps. Andy Biggs, Matt Gaetz, and Bob Good have staunchly opposed McCarthy’s nomination. Republicans hold a majority in the House of 222 to 212 (one Democratic member died post-election). It takes 218 votes to secure the speakership. McCarthy got 203 votes on the first two votes but has failed to sway any of the 19 ultra-conservative holdouts who have opposed him. Democrats, including Congresswoman Terri Sewell, have been united in their support of Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Democrats could side with either of the squabbling Republican factions to create a “unity” government, but Republicans on both sides of this inner GOP feud have publicly rejected any negotiations with Democrats to find a resolution. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed McCarthy. “VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY, & WATCH CRAZY NANCY PELOSI FLY BACK HOME TO A VERY BROKEN CALIFORNIA,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday. Former State Rep. Perry Hooper Jr. told Alabama Today that the former President should come to D.C. to negotiate a settlement. “All of these 19 or 20 come from big MAGA districts,” Hooper explained. “He is a great negotiator.” McCarthy has been the House Minority/Majority leader for years. He was the leading candidate to be Speaker of the House in 2015 when members of the House Freedom Caucus forced out then-Speaker John Boehner. Members of the Freedom Caucus refused to support McCarthy then, leading to the elevation of Rep. Paul Ryan to Speaker. Ryan left Congress in 2018. This public spat between angry House Republicans is the first time since 1923 that the House failed to choose a speaker on the first ballot. Republicans had been planning to announce a number of initiatives, including investigations of Hunter Biden’s alleged influence peddling, the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border situation. All of those plans are on hold and have been overshadowed by the back-and-forth personal attacks by rival Republican congress members and have called into question the ability of the Republican House members to govern effectively. “The American people are expecting us to work to stop inflation, deal with the crisis at our southern border and hold the Biden Administration accountable,” Congressman Robert Aderholt said. “The sooner we elect a Republican Speaker, the sooner we can start.” As of press time, there has been no agreement on who will lead the House for the next two years. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Kevin McCarthy’s race for speaker risks upending House on Day One
In his quest to rise to House speaker, Kevin McCarthy is charging straight into history — potentially becoming the first nominee in 100 years unable to win the job on a first-round floor vote. The increasingly real prospect of a messy fight over the speaker’s gavel on Day One of the new Congress on Jan. 3 is worrying House Republicans, who are bracing for the spectacle. They have been meeting endlessly in private at the Capitol, trying to resolve the standoff. Taking hold of a perilously slim 222-seat Republican majority in the 435-member House and facing a handful of defectors, McCarthy is working furiously to reach the 218-vote threshold typically needed to become speaker. “The fear is that if we stumble out of the gate,” said Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., a McCarthy ally, then the voters who sent the Republicans to Washington “will revolt over that and they will feel let down.” Not since the disputed election of 1923 has a candidate for House speaker faced the public scrutiny of convening a new session of Congress only to have it descend into political chaos, with one vote after another, until a new speaker is chosen. At that time, it eventually took a grueling nine ballots to secure the gavel. McCarthy, a Republican from Bakersfield, California, who was first elected in 2006 and who remains allied with Donald Trump, has signaled he is willing to go as long as it takes in a floor vote to secure the speaker’s job he has wanted for years. The former president has endorsed McCarthy and is said to be making calls on McCarthy’s behalf. McCarthy has given no indication he would step aside, as he did in 2015 when it was clear he did not have the support. But McCarthy also is acknowledging the holdouts won’t budge. “It’s all in jeopardy,” McCarthy said Friday in an interview with conservative Hugh Hewitt. The dilemma reflects not just McCarthy’s uncertain stature among his peers but also the shifting political norms in Congress as party leaders who once wielded immense power — the names of Cannon, Rayburn, and now Pelosi adorn House meeting rooms and office buildings — are seeing it slip away in the 21st century. Rank-and-file lawmakers have become political stars on their own terms, able to shape their brands on social media and raise their own money for campaigns. House members are less reliant than they once were on the party leaders to dole out favors in exchange for support. The test for McCarthy, if he is able to shore up the votes on Jan. 3 or in the days that follow, will be whether he emerges a weakened speaker, forced to pay an enormous price for the gavel, or whether the potentially brutal power struggle emboldens his new leadership. “Does he want to go down as the first speaker candidate in 100 years to go to the floor and have to essentially, you know, give up?” said Jeffrey A. Jenkins, a professor at the University of Southern California and co-author of “Fighting for the Speakership.” “But if he pulls this rabbit out of the hat, you know, maybe he actually has more of the right stuff.” Republicans met in private this past week for another lengthy session as McCarthy’s detractors, largely a handful of conservative stalwarts from the Freedom Caucus, demand changes to House rules that would diminish the power of the speaker’s office. The Freedom Caucus members and others want assurances they will be able to help draft legislation from the ground up and have opportunities to amend bills during the floor debates. They want enforcement of the 72-hour rule that requires bills to be presented for review before voting. Outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the past two Republican speakers, John Boehner and Paul Ryan, faced similar challenges, but they were able to rely on the currency of their position to hand out favors, negotiate deals, and otherwise win over opponents to keep them in line — for a time. Boehner and Ryan ended up retiring early. But the central demand by McCarthy’s opponents’ could go too far: They want to reinstate a House rule that allows any single lawmaker to file a motion to “vacate the chair,” essentially allowing a floor vote to boot the speaker from office. The early leaders of the Freedom Caucus, under BC, the former North Carolina congressman turned Trump’s chief of staff, wielded the little-used procedure as a threat over Boehner and later, over Ryan. It wasn’t until Pelosi seized the gavel the second time, in 2019, that House Democrats voted to do away with the rule and require a majority vote of the caucus to mount a floor vote challenge to the speaker. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said the 200-year-old rule was good enough for Thomas Jefferson, so it’s one he would like to see in place. “We’re still a long way from fixing this institution the way it needs to be fixed,” Roy told reporters Thursday at the Capitol. What’s unclear for McCarthy is even if he gives in to the various demands being made by the conservatives, whether that will be enough for them to drop their opposition to his leadership. Several House Republicans said they do not believe McCarthy will ever be able to overcome the detractors. “I don’t believe he’s going to get to 218 votes,” said Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., among the holdouts. “And so I look forward to when that recognition sets in and, for the good of the country, for the good of the Congress, he steps aside, and we can consider other candidates.” The opposition to McCarthy has promoted a counteroffensive from other groups of House Republicans who are becoming more vocal in their support of the GOP leader — and more concerned about the fallout if the start of the new Congress descends into an internal party fight. Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio, who leads the Republican Governance Group, was wearing an “O.K.” button on his lapel — meaning, “Only Kevin,” he explained. Some have
Tommy Tuberville only U.S. Senator openly backing Donald Trump in 2024
Former President Donald Trump announced last week that he was indeed running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2024. U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville has since told reporters that he will support Trump’s candidacy for president and praised his track record in the Oval Office. “He’s the leader America needs in 2024,” said Sen. Tuberville on Twitter Thursday night. “That’s why I’m proud to endorse Donald J. Trump for President of the United States!” Tuberville followed those comments with an interview on Fox News. “He stood up for the American people,” Tuberville said of Trump in a recent comment on Fox News, speaking with Maria Bartiromo, saying that he was “100%” behind Trump. Tuberville followed that up with comments to reporters from Washington, D.C. “He doesn’t have to learn the ropes,” Tuberville said. “He knows the ropes. He won’t be running again (in 2028). I like someone who will come in and say, ‘Listen, I don’t care. I will do what’s good for America.’” The other 48 Republican Senators were not so quick to jump on the Trump bandwagon. Sen. Lindsey Graham stopped short of endorsing Trump’s candidacy. “If President Trump continues this tone and delivers this message on a consistent basis, he will be hard to beat,” Graham wrote following Trump’s Mar-O-Lago speech. “His speech tonight, contrasting his policies and results against the Biden Administration, charts a winning path for him in the primaries and general election.” Graham was non-committal on endorsing Trump, though. Sen. Mitt Romney has been harshly critical of Trump. Romney called former President Donald Trump an “albatross” on electoral prospects for Republicans in the midterms. “I think President Trump was an albatross on the electoral prospects for some of our candidates,” Romney told MSNBC’s, Saul Kapur. “He helped select some of the people who turned out not to be very effective candidates.” “I understand that he’s going to run for president and announce that tomorrow. It’s like the aging pitcher who keeps losing games,” Romney added. “If we want to win, we need a different pitcher on the mound.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that the party has scared off moderate Republicans and independents. Trump, for his part, has blamed McConnell for the underwhelming GOP performance in midterm Senate races. “It’s Mitch McConnell’s fault,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Spending money to defeat great Republican candidates instead of backing Blake Masters and others was a big mistake. Giving 4 trillion dollars to the Green New Deal, not infrastructure, was an even bigger mistake. He blew the Midterms, and everyone despises him and his otherwise lovely wife Coco Chow.” Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan came out strongly against another Trump run for the Presidency. “I am a Never-Again-Trumper. Why? Because I want to win, and we lose with Trump,” Ryan said in a recent interview on ABC News ‘This week.’ “It was really clear to us in ’18, in ’20, and now in 2022.” “I personally think the evidence is really clear. The biggest factor was the Trump factor … I think we would have won places like Arizona, places like Pennsylvania, New Hampshire had we had a typical, traditional conservative Republican, not a Trump Republican.” Trump is currently 76 years old. By the 2024 election, he will be older than Ronald Reagan was when Reagan was leaving office. The only President in American history who was older is President Joe Biden, who turned 80 on Sunday. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Dividing party, Republicans poised to challenge Joe Biden win
Republicans mounting an unprecedented challenge to Joe Biden’s election win are setting up a congressional showdown on Wednesday that threatens to divide their party and the country for years to come. With protestors already gathering in Washington to support President Donald Trump, the House and the Senate will convene a joint session to count the electoral votes cast in November’s election. Trump has repeatedly said there was widespread fraud, but his claims have been roundly rejected by Republican and Democratic election officials in state after state and by judges, including at the Supreme Court, further cementing Biden’s victory. Trump sees the joint session of Congress as one of his final attempts to overturn the results, even though there is no credible path for that to happen. Echoing Trump’s baseless claims, some of his Republican allies in Congress plan to formally object to the results, focusing on six battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. But a growing number of their GOP colleagues, especially in the Senate, said they would not sign on. If an objection has support from both a House member and a senator in writing, then both chambers will vote on it. That could happen three or more times on Wednesday as Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, along with at least ten other GOP senators, have indicated they will support at least some of the House challenges. It is unclear just what the Republican senators will do, but the process could drag into the night as the two chambers will have to consider each objection individually. There could be more than 100 Republicans in the House willing to object. The challenge to the presidential election is on a scale unseen since the aftermath of the Civil War, though the typically routine process of confirming Electoral College votes has been hit with brief objections before. In 2017, several House Democrats challenged Trump’s win, but Biden, who presided at the time as the vice president, swiftly dismissed them to assert Trump’s victory. In 2005, a challenge by a Democratic House member and a Democratic senator to George W. Bush’s victory in Ohio was quickly dismissed by both chambers. The effort this week is expected to be much broader but is all but certain to fail. Biden is set to be inaugurated Jan. 20. Republicans had not yet settled on a full strategy the night before the joint session. A late-night meeting on Monday convened by Cruz reached few conclusions, according to two Republicans familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it. Cruz will object to electoral results from Arizona, another Republican said — likely to be the first objection considered, in a state Biden won. Hawley has said he will object to the Pennsylvania results, and Loeffler may object to Georgia, where she was vying to keep her seat in a runoff election on Tuesday. With mounting desperation, Trump declared at a campaign rally for Loeffler and David Perdue in Georgia Monday that he would “fight like hell” to hold on to the presidency and he appealed to Republican lawmakers to reverse his election loss. Perdue is seeking another six years in the Senate, but his term expired Sunday. The days ahead will be defining for his presidency. Trump is whipping up crowds and people are gathering in Washington, where security is on alert. Lawmakers are being told to arrive early at the Capitol and some are considering sleeping overnight in their offices to ensure they can safely access the building amid the protests. Vice President Mike Pence will be closely watched as he presides over the session. He is under growing pressure from Trump and others to tip the results in Trump’s favor. But Pence has a ceremonial role that does not give him the power to affect the outcome. “I promise you this: On Wednesday, we’ll have our day in Congress,” Pence said while himself campaigning in Georgia ahead of Tuesday’s runoff elections that will determine control of the Senate. But he did not detail what that meant. The high-stakes decisions on whether to ally with Trump are splitting the Republican Party. A range of Republican officials — including Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland; Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking House GOP leader; and former House Speaker Paul Ryan — have criticized the GOP efforts to overturn the election. And more than a dozen Republican senators have said they will not support the effort. “The 2020 election is over,” said a statement Sunday from a bipartisan group of 10 senators, including Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, and Mitt Romney of Utah. Several others have said they, too, will not back objections, including Republican Sens. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate who said last month he thought any challenges would go down “like a shot dog.” In a statement Tuesday, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said that as he reads the Constitution, “there is no constitutionally viable means for the Congress to overturn an election wherein the states have certified and sent their electors.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has tried to prevent his party from engaging in the battle, which could help define the GOP in the post-Trump era and create lingering resentments among Republican voters. Both Hawley and Cruz are potential 2024 presidential contenders, vying for Trump’s base of supporters. Some other potential candidates, including Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, have chosen not to challenge the results. Cruz’s coalition of 13 senators has said it will vote to reject the Electoral College tallies unless Congress launches a commission to immediately conduct an audit of the election results. Congress is unlikely to agree to that. Facing the criticism from many in his own party, Cruz has attempted to put a finer point on his challenge. The commission remains his focus, he has said, not to undo the election
Republicans condemn ‘scheme’ to undo election for Donald Trump
The unprecedented Republican effort to overturn the presidential election has been condemned by an outpouring of current and former GOP officials warning the effort to sow doubt in Joe Biden’s win and keep President Donald Trump in office is undermining Americans’ faith in democracy. Trump has enlisted support from a dozen Republican senators and up to 100 House Republicans to challenge the Electoral College vote when Congress convenes in a joint session to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s 306-232 win. With Biden set to be inaugurated Jan. 20, Trump is intensifying efforts to prevent the traditional transfer of power, ripping the party apart. Despite Trump’s claims of voter fraud, state officials have insisted the elections ran smoothly and there was no evidence of fraud or other problems that would change the outcome. The states have certified their results as fair and valid. Of the more than 50 lawsuits the president and his allies have filed challenging election results, nearly all have been dismissed or dropped. He’s also lost twice at the U.S. Supreme Court. On a call disclosed Sunday, Trump can be heard pressuring Georgia officials to “find” him more votes. But some senior lawmakers, including prominent Republicans, are pushing back. “The 2020 election is over,” said a statement Sunday from a bipartisan group of 10 senators, including Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, and Mitt Romney of Utah. The senators wrote that further attempts to cast doubt on the election are “contrary to the clearly expressed will of the American people and only serve to undermine Americans’ confidence in the already determined election results.” Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland said, “The scheme by members of Congress to reject the certification of the presidential election makes a mockery of our system and who we are as Americans.” Former House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said in a statement that “Biden’s victory is entirely legitimate” and that efforts to sow doubt about the election “strike at the foundation of our republic.” Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking House Republican, warned in a memo to colleagues that objections to the Electoral College results “set an exceptionally dangerous precedent.” One of the more outspoken conservatives in Congress, Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, said he will not oppose the counting of certified electoral votes on Jan. 6. “I’m grateful for what the president accomplished over the past four years, which is why I campaigned vigorously for his reelection. But objecting to certified electoral votes won’t give him a second term—it will only embolden those Democrats who want to erode further our system of constitutional government.” Cotton said he favors further investigation of any election problems, separate from the counting of the certified Electoral College results. Other prominent former officials also criticized the ongoing attack on election results. In a brief op-ed in The Washington Post, the 10 living former defense secretaries — half who served Republican presidents — said “the time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.” The unusual challenge to the presidential election, on a scale unseen since the aftermath of the Civil War, clouded the opening of the new Congress and is set to consume its first days. The House and Senate will meet Wednesday in a joint session to accept the Electoral College vote, a typically routine process that’s now expected to be a prolonged fight. Trump is refusing to concede, and pressure is mounting on Vice President Mike Pence to ensure victory while presiding in what is typically a ceremonial role over the congressional session. Trump is whipping up crowds for a rally in Washington. The president tweeted Sunday against the election tallies and Republicans not on his side. Biden’s transition spokesman, Mike Gwin, dismissed the senators’ effort as a “stunt” that won’t change the fact that Biden will be sworn in Jan. 20. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to colleagues that while there is “no doubt” of Biden’s victory, their job now “is to convince more of the American people to trust in our democratic system.” The effort in the Senate was being led by Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Hawley defended his actions in a lengthy email to colleagues, explaining that his Missouri constituents have been “loud and clear” with their belief that Biden’s defeat of Trump was unfair. “It is my responsibility as a senator to raise their concerns,” Hawley wrote late Saturday. Hawley plans to object to the state tally from Pennsylvania. But that state’s Republican senator, Pat Toomey, criticized the attack on Pennsylvania’s election system and said the results that named Biden the winner are valid. Cruz’s coalition of 11 Republican senators vows to reject the Electoral College tallies unless Congress launches a commission to immediately conduct an audit of the election results. They are zeroing in on the states where Trump has raised unfounded claims of voter fraud. Congress is unlikely to agree to their demand. The group, which presented no new evidence of election problems, includes Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and Mike Braun of Indiana. New senators in the group are Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama. The convening of the joint session to count the Electoral College votes has faced objections before. In 2017, several House Democrats challenged Trump’s win but Biden, who presided at the time as the vice president, swiftly dismissed them to assert Trump’s victory. Rarely have the protests approached this level of intensity. The moment is a defining one for the Republican Party in a post-Trump era. Both Hawley and Cruz are potential 2024 presidential contenders, cementing their alignment with Trump’s base of supporters. Others are trying to forge a different path for the GOP. Pence will be carefully watched as he presides over what is expected
Donald Trump headed to Georgia as turnout driver, but also a threat
Some establishment Republicans are sounding alarms that President Donald Trump’s conspiratorial denials of his own defeat could threaten the party’s ability to win a Senate majority and counter President-elect Joe Biden’s administration. The concerns come ahead of Trump’s planned Saturday visit to Georgia to campaign alongside Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who face strong Democratic challengers in Jan. 5 runoffs that will determine which party controls the Senate at the outset of Biden’s presidency. Republicans acknowledge Trump as the GOP’s biggest turnout driver, including in Georgia, where Biden won by fewer than 13,000 votes out of about 5 million cast. That means every bit of enthusiasm from one of Trump’s signature rallies could matter. But some Republicans worry Trump will use the platform to amplify his baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud — arguments roundly rejected in state and federal courts across the country. That could make it harder for Perdue and Loeffler to keep a clear focus on the stakes in January and could even discourage Republicans from voting. “The president has basically taken hostage this race,” said Brendan Buck, once a top adviser to former House Speaker Paul Ryan. Especially fraught are Trump’s continued attacks on Georgia’s Republican state officials and the state’s election system, potentially taking away from his public praise of Loeffler and Perdue. “Trump’s comments are damaging the Republican brand,” argued Republican donor Dan Eberhart, who added that the president is “acting in bad sportsmanship and bad faith” instead of emphasizing Republicans’ need to maintain Senate control. The GOP needs one more seat for a majority. Democrats need Jon Ossoff to defeat Perdue and Raphael Warnock to defeat Loeffler to force a 50-50 Senate, positioning Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking majority vote. Trump on Monday blasted Gov. Brian Kemp as “hapless” for not intervening to “overrule” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s certification of Biden’s win. A day earlier, Trump told Fox News he was “ashamed” he’d endorsed Kemp in his 2018 GOP primary for governor. Kemp’s office noted in response that state law gives Kemp no authority to overturn election results, despite Trump’s contention that Kemp could “easily” invoke “emergency powers.” Meanwhile, Raffensperger, a Trump supporter like Kemp, has accused the president of throwing him “under the bus” for doing his job. Perdue and Loeffler have attempted to stay above the fray. They’ve long aligned themselves with Trump and even echoed some of his general criticisms of the fall elections, jointly demanding Raffensperger’s resignation. But the crux of their runoff argument — that Republicans must prevent Democrats from controlling Capitol Hill and the White House — is itself a tacit admission that Biden, not Trump, will be inaugurated Jan. 20. And at one recent campaign stop, Perdue heard from vocal Trump supporters who demanded that he do more to help Trump somehow claim Georgia’s 16 electoral votes. Republicans see three potential negative outcomes to Trump fanning the flames. Some GOP voters could be dissuaded from voting again if they accept Trump’s claims that the system is hopelessly corrupted. Among Republicans more loyal to Trump than to the party, some could skip the runoff altogether out of anger at a party establishment the president continues to assail. Lastly, at the other end of the GOP spectrum are the moderate Republicans who already crossed over to help Biden win Georgia and could be further alienated if the runoff becomes another referendum on Trump. Josh Holmes, a top adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said Republicans “haven’t seen any evidence of lack of enthusiasm in the Senate races.” But none of those potential bad effects would have to be sweeping to tilt the runoffs if they end up as close as the presidential contest in Georgia. “We’ll see how it plays out. It changes day by day and week by week. But so far, so good,” Holmes said. In Georgia, any Republican concerns are more circumspect. Brian Robinson, a former adviser to Kemp’s Republican predecessor as governor, said Trump should “drive a strong, forward-looking message” about what’s at stake for a Republican base that “is fervently devoted to him.” “The best thing he can do for the party,” Robinson said, “is to talk about the importance of having a Republican Senate majority to project his policy legacy and to make sure the Democrats can’t reverse a lot of what he has put in place that Republicans support.” Asked what Trump should avoid, Robinson circled back to what he believes the president should say. Former U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, a Trump ally, downplayed the potential for GOP splintering, framing an “inner-family squabble” as a sideshow to the “incredible” consequences that define the runoffs. “Followers of Trump will follow Trump, but they’re not blind to the huge stakes. And neither is he,” Kingston said. “He knows to keep his legacy. He’s got to get these people reelected.” Trump, Kingston argued, is “keeping the base interested,” a necessary component of any successful runoff campaign since second rounds of elections often see a drop-off in voter participation. Robinson added that Democrats face their own challenge in replicating record turnout for Biden. “What’s the best motivator? Fear,” he said. Before November, Democrats dreaded a second Trump term more than Republicans feared Trump losing, Robinson reasoned. “Republicans have reason to be scared now,” he said, because of the prospect that Democrats could control both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. “That could make a difference in turnout” beyond anything Trump says, Robinson concluded. For their part, the senators continue their public embrace of all things Trump ahead of the visit. “I couldn’t be more excited to welcome” the president “back to Georgia,” Loeffler wrote on Twitter after Trump confirmed his plans. Perdue’s campaign quickly retweeted the comment, which Loeffler punctuated with a reminder that the runoffs are “an all-hands-on-deck moment.” It’s not clear, though, if all Republicans will be on hand at all. Kemp, the governor who appointed Loeffler upon Sen. Johnny Isakson’s retirement last year, has on previous Trump visits
Portraits of former Confederate leaders removed from Capitol
The portraits depict former speakers from three Southern states.
