Or at least that the Leader sees what they're doing now as what they would do were they actually the majority. Giving Republicans votes when you have some bipartisan agreement is very different from actually being able to pass your own agenda and no one should want to imply what's happening right now is "Democratic control".
Giving Republicans votes when you have some bipartisan agreement is very different from actually being able to pass your own agenda and no one should want to imply what’s happening right now is “Democratic control”.
Democrats don't pass their own agenda when they do have control. Jeffries is right; it's functionally the same thing.
You wonder how far this slide right can continue. Rather than resigning, every Republican who doesn’t like Trump, Gaetz, or MTG should hold on to their seat and try to right the ship. Otherwise, we just end up with a crazier and crazier bunch.
Some do, some don’t. Unfortunately the margin is too small to overrule the ones that don’t (Manchin/Sinema first). Also, makes no sense to nuke the filibuster if there is no meaningful progressive legislation coming out of the House.
Unfortunately the margin is too small to overrule the ones that don’t (Manchin/Sinema)
And when they stop standing in the way, other designated road blocks will be in the way of progress with the blessing of the neoliberals in charge of the party.
Everyone in the party leadership demonizes progressives when they try to exert what little power they have to improve bills, but when conservatives like Manchin get in the way, they say it's necessary for the blue majority and give him the pen used to sign the bill he gutted.
makes no sense to nuke the filibuster
It always does. It's inherently undemocratic and a hindrance to progress just as much as election tampering is. Especially when the Dem leadership keep using it as an excuse to not faithfully represent their constituency.
there is no meaningful progressive legislation coming out of the House
That is by design by the Dem House leadership as much as the Republicans.
Pelosi actively fought anything and everyone to the left of her beloved Blue Dog/Third Way conservatives to the best of her ability, her allies still dominate most committees and her protégé Jeffries hates the left even more.
I disagree that they're identical to the literal fascists on the other side of the aisle, but when it comes to left wing candidates and policies, the Ratchet Effect is very much active, has been since the 70s if not longer.
Pretty cynical take ( perhaps justified). I have the more positive take that most of the left-of-center legislation that passed the house under Pelosi would have pass the Senate if the majority did not depend on the two Dinos. Maybe indeed some other roadblocks would have arisen, but in any case it’s somewhat unfair to blame Pelosi, when the roadblocks were clearly in the Senate.
most of the left-of-center legislation that passed the house under Pelosi would have pass the Senate if the majority did not depend on the two Dinos.
And if not for that, Pelosi wouldn't have let it pass the House. She was never in the business of furthering a center left agenda.
Her job, now that of Jeffries, was to make a bunch of performative gestures and campaign acts to make it LOOK like the Dem leadership is on the side of the people and then legislate on behalf of the rich and powerful people who bribe both parties.
it’s somewhat unfair to blame Pelosi, when the roadblocks were clearly in the Senate.
Yeah, it was CLEARLY someone in the Senate who, in spite of over 60% of the population being in favor of it at the time, successfully did everything she could to kill "the Green New Dream or whatever" 🙄
Fun fact: Democrats receive more legal bribe money from the health insurance leech industry that benefit the most from the awful status quo than Republicans do.
Four big insurance companies — Blue Cross Blue Shield, UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health and Cigna — and their employees have given about $4.5 million collectively in campaign contributions in the 2020 cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Just more than half — about $2.3 million — of that has gone to Democrats, including to some of the party’s top-tier presidential contenders.
I think that shows Jeffries should not say the quiet thing out loud. Johnson is cooperating on stuff that is first-order essential (preventing shutdown/foreign relations) and that would normally pass the House essentially uncontested. The only reason these votes are controversial is that the GOP has turned traitor.
The current bills are nothing like what passed in the House under the speakership of Pelosi (unfortunately most of those bills did not pass in the Senate).
Jeffries said Sunday in a CBS “60 Minutes” interview with Norah O’Donnell that Democrats hold outright influence over the House because of how fractured the GOP majority is.
“It’s a difficult situation on the other side of the aisle, because many of my Republican colleagues are more interested in creating chaos, dysfunction, and extremism,” he continued.
The Republican majority in the House stands at just five seats, with all in attendance, meaning Johnson has no room for error on controversial bills to ensure passage without working with Democrats.
“But when that mess starts to impact the ability to do the job on behalf of the American people, then the responsible thing at that moment might be for us to make clear that we will not allow the extremists to throw the Congress and the country into chaos.”
Greene is expected to make her motion to vacate privileged this week, potentially setting up a vote.
Unable to make a deal with his own party, Johnson voted with Democrats to advance the bill.
The original article contains 425 words, the summary contains 171 words. Saved 60%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
“Even though we’re in the minority, we effectively have been governing as if we were in the majority because we continue to provide a majority of the votes necessary to get things done,” Jeffries said. “Those are just the facts.”
The Republican majority in the House stands at just five seats, with all in attendance, meaning Johnson has no room for error on controversial bills to ensure passage without working with Democrats.
Johnson also faces an ouster threat from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has blasted the Speaker for working with Democrats and creating a “uniparty.” Jeffries and Democrats have said they will protect Johnson against Greene’s motion to vacate.
Jeffries has already used Democrats’ influence to pass some bipartisan priorities in the House. Congress passed a $95 billion foreign aid package last week after weeks of negotiations with hard-line Republicans who resisted the effort.
