Tag: House of Representatives

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Congress GOP Social Media

Twitter Brings Down The House With Hilarious Kevin McCarthy Jokes: ‘Best Season Of C-SPAN…Ever’

It’s been an abysmal week for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who is trying to become the next Speaker of the House.

By extension, it’s also been a bad week for all House Republicans because they’re making the Keystone Cops look competent.

At last count, McCarthy had lost 10 straight ballots for the Speaker’s chair, with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) getting the most votes, which is humiliating for the GOP when you consider they have the majority of the votes in the chamber.

According to The Hill, here’s the latest update on the search for a Speaker:

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) appears to have lost the 10th vote for Speaker of the House.

The preliminary results were largely unchanged from all three of Wednesday’s and Thursday’s first three votes, with McCarthy garnering 200 votes, 20 Republicans voting for another candidate and one voting “present.”

Lawmakers are still in negotiations but are touting progress.

This will send the Speakership fight to a 11th ballot for the first time since before the Civil War. It’s unclear if that vote will happen tonight.

Long story short: It’s a clusterfuck.

However, despite all the chaos, one good thing has come out of this: Humor. Specifically, internet humor. Take a look:

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Congress GOP WTF?!

AOC Has The Perfect Comeback When A GOP Rep. Says Democrats Are Drinking On The House Floor

Since Republicans in the House of Representatives continue to prove that they cannot manage to elect a Speaker, they’re now lashing out at their Democratic colleagues, but it turns out they’re no better at that than they are at picking a leader.

During debate on the House floor Wednesday, Mediaite reports, Rep.-elect Kat Cammack (R-FL) accused Democrats of drinking as they watched the GOP debacle continue for the second straight day.

Refusing to elect McCarthy as Speaker, said Cammack, was tantamount to “stifl[ing] the will of the American people.”

She credited McCarthy for having “done more than anyone in this chamber to secure a Republican majority,” and said they needed to “unify now” to oppose the “liberal Senate” and “Obama’s J.V. Team in the White House.”

“The American people sent a conservative majority to govern this body,” she continued, but “we cannot begin to govern because heck, we can’t even swear in as members of Congress.”

“Diversity of thought” was “a good thing,” and sets Republicans “apart from our friends on the other side of the aisle,” Cammack continued, who “want us divided” and “want us to fight each other.”

And then Cammack casually dropped in her specious accusation:

“That much has been made clear but the popcorn and blankets and alcohol that has come in over there.”

There were loud boos and jeers in response to Cammack’s cheap shot, but perhaps the best comeback came from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who replied on Twitter.

“If only! If Dems took a shot every time McCarthy lost a Republican, we’d all be unconscious by now”

At last count, McCarthy had lost FIVE votes to be Speaker, garnering fewer votes than Democratic House leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

If anyone needs a drink, it’s the House GOP caucus. Maybe if they got rip-roaring drunk they could actually manage to accomplish something. Then again, they’d probably argue over who got the last swig from the bottle.

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Congress GOP

Matt Gaetz Demands That ‘Squatter’ Kevin McCarthy Be Evicted From Speaker’s Office ASAP

The GOP civil war between far right members of the House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is escalating further, with some suggesting that McCarthy is illegally occupying the office of the Speaker of the House and needs to be evicted ASAP. McCarthy began moving into the Speaker’s chambers on Tuesday morning.

McCarthy failed to garner the necessary 218 votes needed on Tuesday that would elevate him to Speaker of the House, and the erosion of his support is evident in the fact that his vote total went down with each ballot, according to NPR:

Tuesday’s vote was the first time in a century that the election of a House speaker took multiple ballots to complete. The longest vote in U.S. history took place in 1855, lasting 133 rounds over two months, from December 1855 to February 1856.

McCarthy faces a Republican bloc of critics who want changes to the way the House operates. Although he’s given in to many of their demands, he remains short of the votes needed.

Instead of celebrating their return to the majority on the first day, McCarthy and other GOP leaders were sorting out how to respond to an open rebellion that showcased division and cast doubt on their ability to govern.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) decided to rub salt in McCarthy’s wounds by demanding that the California Republican be evicted from the Speaker’s office he began moving into Tuesday morning.

In a letter dated Jan. 3 that he addressed to Architect of the Capitol, J. Brett Blanton, Gaetz wrote:

I write to inform you that the Speaker of the House Office located in the U.S. Capitol Building is currently occupied by Rep. Kevin McCarthy. As of this morning, the 117th Congress adjourned sine die, and a Speaker from the 118th Congress has not been elected. After three undeciding votes, no member can lay claim to this office.

What is the basis in law, House rule, or precedent to allow someone who has placed second in three successive speaker elections to occupy the Speaker of the House Office? How long will he remain there before he is considered a squatter?

Please write back promptly as it seems Mr. McCarthy can no longer be considered Speaker-Designate following today’s balloting.

Sincerely,

Matt Gaetz
Member of Congress

McCarthy has yet to respond to Gaetz’s eviction notice.

 

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Congress GOP January 6

Republicans Remove Metal Detectors From The House – Three Days Before The Anniversary Of Jan. 6

This Friday marks the second anniversary of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol which left five people dead, including a police officer, and yet House Republicans who now control the lower chamber of Congress thought it would be a great idea to remove all metal detectors on their first day in power.

According to Axios:

Why it matters: The magnetometers were installed outside the House chamber in January 2021 to beef up security after the attack, but some Republicans have vocally opposed the increased security checks.

  • Eight Republicans and one Democrat were fined thousands of dollars for not passing through magnetometers required to enter the House chamber, the New York Times reported in 2021.

Driving the news: A rules package for the new Congress removes “Democrat fines for failure of Members to comply with unscientific mask mandates and security screenings before entering the House floor,” Republicans on the House Rules Committee said.

As the metal detectors were being removed, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) posted a video on Twitter in which she praised the move, suggesting that Republicans were returning the chamber to the days when it was “the people’s House.” However, she failed to explain how she or any of her GOP colleagues will protect members if another violent attack takes place on the seat of government. Boebert proudly declared:

“When I arrived in Congress two years, Nancy Pelosi put this hunk of garbage outside of the House chambers for members of Congress to go through. Today, they are being removed and we are turning Pelosi’s House back into the people’s House.”

Yes, indeed. What could possibly go wrong?

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Congress Elections GOP

McCarthy Moving Into Speaker’s Chambers Even Though He Doesn’t Have The Votes Needed

Even though he doesn’t have the votes he needs to be elected Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is moving into the Speaker’s office, a move that could come back to humiliate him if someone else winds up being the next Speaker.

The Daily Mail reports that staffers for McCarthy were seen moving his belongings to the office of the Speaker.

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters Tuesday would be a ‘good day’ after his staff spent Monday morning moving his office furniture into the Speaker’s chambers.

Looking somewhat stressed on Monday afternoon, the California Republican was rushing out of the US Capitol when reporters asked him about the following day’s House-wide vote to elect their chamber’s leader.

McCarthy’s campaign for the gavel has been somewhat bumpy for weeks, but the pressure has ramped up in the final 48 hours with as many as 15 GOP members allegedly ready to vote against him. He can only lose four votes to still clinch victory.

Earlier that day, his staff had been seen moving belongings and wheeling carts into the House Speaker’s office at the US Capitol. 

CNN notes that the rearranging of furniture and other belongings is “standard procedure,” but it could prove embarrassing if McCarthy isn’t able to get the votes he needs to be Speaker of the House.

Will McCarthy be able to cobble together a coalition of House Republicans who are willing to see him as Speaker? That seems unlikely based on reports of recent meetings by members of the GOP House caucus, with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) telling reporters Monday that he was still a “no” vote on elevating McCarthy to the top spot.

If McCarthy fails to get the needed majority, it could well spell the end of the Republican House agenda before they even get to any legislating. Then again, that’s probably what’s best for the country in the long run.