Speaker Johnson rejects Israel, Ukraine aid package ahead of Senate vote | The La. Republican said the bill needs border security measures -- after he and other Republicans rejected them
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https://wapo.st/3SBl4gA
They don't care about the border. "The border" is a dog whistle for racism. If they cared, they wouldn't have voted against the most recent bill. They would have spent actual money on illegal crossings. They would have earmarked funds for better holding facilities. The list goes on.
Illegal crossings really aren't a huge issue. Most illegal immigrants enter legally and just don't leave.
Yea, bigger problem is how fucked our ports of entry are at the moment. Not enough space or staff to process everything that crosses.
If this really is an invasion like the GOP wants to claim, let's move some of that national "defense" budget into more ICE agents and more lawyers/judges in our immigration courts to process people. Let's weed out these supposed invaders. (Psssst I'm willing to bet a lot of money that there won't be any)
The other problem is that he’s a fucking wanker; meaning he’s producing a new generation of fucking wankers.
I thought he installed spyware on his and his son's computers so that they WOULDN'T be wankers
I agree. It’s already a stretch to call our system a representative democracy, but it’s so much more egregious when you consider the unilateral power congressional leadership wields.
This is true in a sense, but also a bit misleading. The Speaker is essentially acting in the name of a House majority, and they can be removed by that majority at any time; it just provides them a degree of separation from accountability. If the Speaker is doing something that a majority of the House doesn't want, they can always remove him or use tools like discharge petitions.
That said, there are very complicated power dynamics at play there, and you're right that leadership does have too much power. But it does need to be reminded that this is only done with the consent of the majority.
I do believe he was sent to us by God...
As a test, to see how long we'll put up with bullshit before dragging our politicians into the streets and defend our freedom.
And we're failing.
If anything, he's an excellent example of Epicurus' paradox. No omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent god would ever allow creatures like him to wield such immense power.
Who's "we"? Because a lot of these assholes are doing exactly what their voters want.
This lazy "politicians" line has always been a way to reduce the complexity of the issue and ignore the simple fact a good deal of our country are morons and assholes that want all this.
Only does anything with a two thirds majority. He's not going to get that many Republicans to agree that the sun rises in the east, let alone go against their own petty tyrant leader.
Actually there are Republixans working for a Discharge Petition and it only requires a majority of House members to sign on to the petition, which means at least a handful of Republicans would have to sign on to give it teeth.
The House doesn't have filibuster rules like the Senate; nothing in the House requires two-thirds.
Discharge petitions do.
In the U.S. House, successful discharge petitions are rare, as the signatures of an absolute majority of House members are required.[2]
...
An early form of the discharge petition was introduced into U.S. House rules in 1910 as part of a series of measures intended to check the power of the disliked Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon (R–Illinois). The modern version, however, was adopted in 1931 by the 71st House. In 1935, the rules were changed so the number of signatures required to force a vote went from one-third of the chamber (145 votes) to an absolute majority (218 votes).[3][4]
To quote your quotes:
as the signatures of an absolute majority of House members are required
to an absolute majority (218 votes)
An absolute majority is one half, not two-thirds.