THE NASTY GOP SHIT TO COME IN 2025

Jim McGovern of Massacusetts is the Ranking member on the House Rules Committee. For those who don’t know the House organization, the Rules Committe is where all bill go to be put into their final form before a vote, and rules are set for amendments and other items. It’s the single most powerful committee in the House of Representatives.

McGovern took no prisoners this morning in an epic tweet thread about what the “majority party” plans to do to America over this coming year:

“Today the HouseGOP put out their rules for the next two years of Congress. If you thought their dysfunction, disorganization, and disarray was bad before, buckle up, because it’s about to get even worse.

“You’d think House Republicans might look at their failures and try to change course by working with Democrats, as we’ve been asking, to address the major problems facing our country. You’d think. But you’d be wrong.

“First, by injecting partisan extremism into the rules, Republicans are totally destroying the role of Speaker of the House. Their proposed changes would, for the first time in history, shield the Speaker from accountability to the entire chamber by making it so that only Republicans can move to vacate the chair. This makes it clear that they have no intention of working together to find common ground. Instead of electing a Speaker of the House, they decided to elect a Speaker of the Republican Conference—held hostage by their most extreme members.

“This election was close—Republicans lost seats! And the American people want us to work together. But the other side learned no lessons, because here they are, doubling down on extremism with an unprecedented anti-democratic move that would fit right in at the Kremlin.

“And the bills in this package—apparently their top priorities—are also the clearest window yet into their agenda. Here’s what I see: Nothing to help workers. Nothing to bring down grocery prices. Nothing on lower rent or affordable housing. Silent on inflation & healthcare costs. Next to nothing on jobs & the economy. Instead, I have no doubt they’ll find plenty of time to pass tax breaks for billionaires and massive corporations at the expense of everyday Americans.

“Their first 12 bills not only bypass regular order, they are all totally closed—meaning no amendments at all from Democrats or Republicans. So much for openness & transparency. And that’s after they broke their own shameful record by running the most authoritarian congress ever—silencing debate, breaking their own rules, shutting out voices & blocking amendments time after time over the last two years.

“The American people did not vote for whatever the hell this is—and you better believe that Democrats will not let Republicans turn the House of Representatives into a rubber stamp for their extreme policies.”

Most of the special bills are “culture war” items designed to make Democrats vote against things that the MAGAts favor.

Among other things, the rules package takes a sledgehammer to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion by dissolving that congressional office; it also authorizes subpoenas of Attorney General Merrick Garland and other officials connected to the investigation of the Bidens. They’re really going to continue their hapless attack on the Biden family that went nowhere last term.

The list of bills that are to receive special treatment - meaning they are out of “regular order” and can’t be amended by anyone - will force an up-or-down vote whose purpose is to ram through an extremist agenda in the new Congress’s early day.

Top of the list are GOP wishlist items that attack immigrants. One bill would require the Department of Homeland Security to take into custody any migrants charged with theft. Another would make sanctuary cities ineligible for federal funds to support migrant services.

There is an attack on trans athletes, with an amendment to Title IX that requires only biological sex distinctions in sports protected under Title IX rules.

Another bill would prohibit any moratorium on hydraulic fracking.

There’s one that appears designed specifically to benefit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - it allows the U.S. government to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court if that body goes after “any protected person of the United States and its allies.” Netanyahu is currently under investigation by the ICC for war crimes.

The House likely will pass these bills through an up or down party line vote. That doesn’t mean they’ll become law, since they have to get through the Senate where many would be subject to the filibuster. Thus, many of these “priorities” are fairly empty gestures, and the true test will be when the House seeks to pass a budget, to slash funding to government benefits or programs, or to extend the Trump tax cuts to corporations and wealthy Americans. There is also the debt limit that has to be extended by June.

Until mid-April, Johnson will be working with a 217-215 “majority” after Walz becomes Felon34's National Security Advisor and Elise Stefanik leaves to become UN ambassador. This leaves everything that really needs to be accomplished subject to the bomb-throwers in the Fweedumb Caucus.

The fact that Reverend Mike managed to win re-election today on the first ballot after two holdouts negotiated with him while the clerk held the vote open, and changed their minds, shows that the Republicans are aware of the dangers they face. They didn’t want to start off by being unable to validate the electoral vote count for Felon34. However, this is still a factional caucus and all the important votes ahead - a budget or another continuing resolution by the end of February; extending the debt limit - something none of them want to be seen voting for; voting on the mass deportation plan, etc. - will offer multiple opportunities for their factionalism to make progress on any of those difficult if not impossible.

If Democrats stay united on the decision not to rescue Johnson in any of these coming fights, the ability of the MAGAts to cause lasting harm will be severely limited. Johnson only has a year to enact the Felon34 Assault On America.

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