Another Morning Cup Of “Coffee News” The Circus Returns To Washing, D.C.

By Dannie McIntire

January 18, 2023

If you watched the spectacle of Representative Kevin McCarthy finally ascending to the role of Speaker of the House after 15 rounds of voting then you are well aware that the circus is back in Washington.

As a republican I was dismayed witnessing the dysfunction within the Republican Party that was on full view in front of the American public. After the recent election I would have hoped the Republican Party could take control of the House as a unified party. 

Well at the moment if doesn’t appear that will happen. To obtain the House leadership role Kevin McCarthy had to surrender too many demands of the extreme right faction of the Republican Party.  

One procedural rule change he had to agree to in order to secure the support of the extreme right of the party was to allow any one House member to make a motion to elect a new speaker.  The old procedure required a minimum of five house members to file a motion to elect a new speaker.

The old five member rule was reasonable. Now you will have the one member rule and you can expect having constant motions from both sides of the aisle to elect a new speaker.  If you thought the House was dysfunctional before I believe instead of getting down to work for the American people much time will be spent on frivolous motions to elect a new speaker. 

Another concession by Kevin McCarthy was to agree to bring to a vote on term limits. Many people are for term limits while many are against having a limitation on terms. The downside to having a term limit is “retiring” a member who may be an effective and fair lawmaker. In my opinion a term limit already exists, it’s called elections. The “people” just have to have the collective will to vote the bad apples out of office.

However, in my opinion not all the concessions Kevin McCarthy had to make were bad concessions.

I was happy to see that the right wing of the Republican Party stood firm or a promise that no bill would be brought to the floor for a vote until 72 hours had passed. That gives lawmakers time to read the proposed bill to know what’s actually is in it.  No more “Pelosi” you have to pass it to know what’s in it.

I also like that the speaker elect had to agree to try and adopt a budget resolution that would balance the budget in ten years and a cap on fiscal year 2024 spending that would not exceed the 2022 level.

Our national debt is out of control and needs to be lassoed and brought back into the “sensible corral”. Our current national debt stands at 31ttiliion dollar;’ that’s a debt of $94,257 per U. S. citizen.  Our government operates on borrowing and that needs to be controlled.  The current rate of excessive government spending is saddling our future generations with unsustainable debt.  

One thing is certain; you can look for the 118th Congress to be another year of “welcome to the circus”.