Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
This post is in: Election 2020, NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat
As we are sworn in today, we accept a responsibility as daunting and demanding as any that previous generations of leadership have faced.
Our most urgent priority will continue to be defeating the coronavirus – and defeat it, we will! #117thCongress pic.twitter.com/HD5w1OUfx3
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 4, 2021
Pelosi officially wins her fourth term as speaker, in a 216-209 vote between her and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), with five Dems voting "present" or for another lawmaker.
Story updated soon: https://t.co/t7woyTtxmd— Natalie Andrews (@nataliewsj) January 3, 2021
All of the members in this photo voted for @SpeakerPelosi today: https://t.co/h6fCxnzJK3
— Haley Talbot (@haleytalbotnbc) January 3, 2021
She’s the DCCC’s best fundraiser, she keeps the lights on, all this stuff about wars between progressives and The Establishment is message board drama.
— Tentin Quarantino (@agraybee) January 3, 2021
She’s already started the new session, of course…
That’s “Madam Speaker” to you. https://t.co/IX3m5wsMQl
— Peter Wolf (@peterawolf) January 2, 2021
U.S. House Democrats introduce ethics, legislative reforms https://t.co/OedbuQhojQ pic.twitter.com/VbjwOQ5LHu
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 2, 2021
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday unveiled a package of ethics and legislative reforms for the new Congress set to convene Sunday, including barring former lawmakers convicted of federal crimes from the House floor…
One change angering Republicans is a revision to parliamentary rules that allow the minority to offer an amendment as part of a “Motion to Recommit” after a bill is approved. The new rules allow the minority to demand a vote on whether the bill should be returned to committee without any proposing or debating specific revisions.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy on Twitter said the change “just destroyed over 100 years of representation in Congress.”
Democrats said the change would ensure the motion “is no longer used to hijack the legislative process for political gamesmanship.”…
Democrats would make it a violation of the Code of Official Conduct for a lawmaker or employee to disclose the identity of a whistleblower or disseminate manipulated media, including photos and videos, known as “deepfakes.”
The proposed rules would also protect House whistleblowers from retaliation…
Lawmakers would also change “pronouns and familial relationships in the House rules to be gender neutral,”…
The Repubs, of course, perceive all these changes as deeply hurtful and directed specifically at them — for some reason.
Monday Morning Open Thread: Nancy ‘Madame Speaker’ SmashPost + Comments (115)
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat
Got to appreciate the powerful troll energy of that opening line https://t.co/Bm28CLXUMN
— The Mall Krampus (@cakotz) December 29, 2020
While #MoscowMitch continues his career as a sabateur — more on that later — I’m grateful, again, that we have Speaker Pelosi as an example of how legislating can be done…
McConnell’s 1 insight was he could kill just about everything through process, press wouldn’t explain, & voters wouldn’t punish incumbents for what they don’t vote on. But this is an extraordinary situation & the R’s may take blame for the process, & it validates Biden’s argument
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) December 29, 2020
Some days, the choices are truly as simple and as telling as they seem.
The choice today is to help workers and families across America who are struggling to survive this pandemic or to be in the way of that help getting to the people. https://t.co/V3O9DVcofI
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) December 28, 2020
Full video of @SpeakerPelosi saying on the record that college dependents and those with disabilities will be covered. All adults over the age of 16 will be covered by the houses bill.
This now goes to the Senate: call your senators and force them to pass this bill pic.twitter.com/9nXNYQ7TBs
— Adam Christensen (@AC4Congress2020) December 29, 2020
And that is her job. People may say, "Well, she shouldn't be front and center," and now that a Democrat is going to be president, she won't be. As a Speaker, she is simply outstanding. https://t.co/vmbpXtuAHA
— Jeff Fecke (@jkfecke) December 29, 2020
I learned how good Pelosi was at her job by listening to the fear and awe in Republicans’ voices whenever they wretched about her.
It wasn’t the spite or contempt or plain hate they have for Sec. Clinton or any number of women, but a lament that they had no equal on their side.
— Peter Wolf (@peterawolf) December 29, 2020
Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Thank the Gods for Nancy SmashPost + Comments (223)
This post is in: Biden-Harris 2020, Election 2020, NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads
President-elect Joe Biden said many of America’s security agencies were ‘hollowed out’ under President Trump and the lack of information being provided to his transition team by the outgoing administration was an ‘irresponsibility’ https://t.co/40yc4okBEU pic.twitter.com/krODqgJ1GY
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 29, 2020
Per the Washington Post:
… With less than a month before Inauguration Day, Biden has been laying the groundwork for how to tackle the gargantuan twin challenges that he will face as soon as he assumes the presidency — ending the coronavirus pandemic and rebuilding the economy. He has steadily filled vacancies in his Cabinet and in senior positions in his government, which will take over at noon on Jan. 20.
He has been met with remarkable resistance from Trump, who has refused to concede the election and has continued attempting to overturn the results. Trump blocked any transition efforts outright for more than two weeks before relenting, at least initially. He has declined to say whether he will attend Biden’s inauguration, and the incoming team planning the event assumes he will not…
On Monday, Trump continued to tweet conspiracy theories about the election — at one point retweeting a view that opponents were guilty of “treason” — and spent much of the day at his private golf club in Florida.
Meanwhile, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris attended a virtual briefing with 15 national security and foreign policy advisers, including several would-be Cabinet nominees. In comments that followed, Biden said the advisers told him that many of the agencies critical to national security have sustained “enormous damage” during the Trump administration.
“Many of them have been hollowed out in personnel, capacity and in morale, in the policy processes that have atrophied or have been sidelined, in the disrepair of our alliances . . . in the general disengagement from the world,” Biden said. “And all of that makes it harder for our government to protect the American people, to defend our vital interests in a world where threats are constantly evolving and our adversaries are constantly adapting.”…
Biden said Monday that most government agencies have shown “exemplary cooperation” with his transition team, especially given the challenges of the pandemic and the Trump administration’s effort to stall conversations, but that his staffers have encountered “obstruction from political leadership” when they could not afford to waste any time. He noted that four years ago, he and then-President Barack Obama gave the incoming Trump-Pence administration “access to all that we had.”
In raising concerns about the transition, Biden was careful to distinguish between political appointees in the agencies and the career professionals who he said had cooperated fully…
He’s absolutely earned some gloating rights, given that few if any candidates were as chronically underestimated as him by the media. He was far ahead in primary polls for a year and the media simply brushed it off. https://t.co/oZsQCNT0Fo
— Tentin Quarantino (@agraybee) December 28, 2020
… Recounting his successful efforts to help get the Recovery Act passed in 2009, Biden pointedly said, “I’m going to say something outrageous. I’m not bad at this because people know whatever I tell them, I will do. I’ll keep my word.” But Biden knows his policy agenda won’t be to everyone’s liking. Some of those folks are unreachable.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to get, you know, anyone, from the Proud Boys to some of our really, really strident Republicans, 20 of whom I’m told in the Senate don’t want to vote for anything. … I’m not going to get those folks,” Biden admitted before adding, “I don’t have to get those folks, I don’t think.” For the president-elect, it’s all about making the case.
“I think there’s a case that can be made that demonstrates that everything from racial equity to environmental progress to plain old jobs can be had in a way that everybody can sign on to,” said Biden, who knows that all of his goals won’t be easy to attain. The difficulty doesn’t bother him in the least. “It’s the only reason I ran,” Biden said…
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Repubs in Disarray!, Trumpery
President Trump has finally signed the coronavirus relief bill — 5 days after calling it a “disgrace” and less than 24 hours after allowing 12 million + Americans to lose unemployment benefits.
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) December 28, 2020
Per the Washington Post:
President Trump unexpectedly capitulated Sunday night and signed the stimulus bill into law, releasing $900 billion in emergency relief funds into the economy and averting a Tuesday government shutdown.
White House officials didn’t explain why the president decided to suddenly back down and sign into law a bill he had held up for nearly a week and had referred to as a “disgrace” just days earlier.
Trump signed the bill while vacationing in Florida and on a weekend when he had allowed unemployment benefits for 14 million Americans to expire…
In a statement he issued after signing the law, Trump released a long list of false claims and grievances. He said he would be sending a “redlined” version of the bill back to Congress “insisting that those funds be removed from the bill.”
Trump has less than a month remaining in his presidency, and lawmakers are likely to ignore any such request…
Pelosi: "Now, the Prez must immediately call on Congressional Republicans to end their obstruction & to join him & Democrats in support of our stand-alone legislation to increase direct payment checks to $2,000, which will be brought to the Floor tomorrow" https://t.co/lBX51E8yTx
— David Dayen (@ddayen) December 28, 2020
So the ultimate effect of Trump waffling on the coronavirus and omnibus bill is that Democrats clarified that it was Republicans who blocked $2,000 checks, not Democrats, and millions of people lost unemployment benefits for a week.
Really can't overstate how needless this was.
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) December 28, 2020
People rightly focusing on the just-signed COVID bill's relief it provides so many struggling Americans
But it also has critical money for vaccine distribution and for states to ramp up testing.
Because there's still a pandemic going on
And America is the global hotspot
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 28, 2020
Step 1: refuse to engage publicly for months.
Step 2: watch a supermajority pass a bill.
Step 3: forcefully threaten to veto it unless demands met.
Step 4: back down and sign it; look weak.As a bonus, you enrage your party and hang your SecTreas out to dry.
What a world.
— Matt Glassman (@MattGlassman312) December 28, 2020
so this imbecile stormed in and tried to tank a deal, ran around and tripped all over his dick, got no discernible benefit to himself, made everything worse for everyone else, and agreed to the original deal.
one last masterclass by donald trump, complete circus animal
— Normie Transition Team (@CalmSporting) December 28, 2020
The credibility of the office is just going to a farm, upstate https://t.co/Hjgttk4qpr
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) December 28, 2020
#MoscowMitch limps up…
I applaud the emperor's magnificent new clothes! https://t.co/zR58LsQjxI
— Daily Trix (@DailyTrix) December 28, 2020
Monday Morning Open Thread: Good News, If We Can Keep ItPost + Comments (184)
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality
Democrats will try again with a roll call vote on a new bill Dec. 28, when the House also plans a vote to override Trump’s veto on the National Defense Authorization Act. https://t.co/vg1jR2ZVnj
— Bloomberg Government (@BGOV) December 24, 2020
But now you can say Merry Christmas again!!!1!!…
… Republicans on Thursday objected to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer‘s attempt to replace the $600 payments in the latest pandemic relief legislation with the $2,000 payments Trump said he wants. Democrats will try again Dec. 28, with a similar new bill that will be put to a full vote on the House floor.
“House and Senate Democrats have repeatedly fought for bigger checks for the American people, which House and Senate Republicans have repeatedly rejected – first, during our negotiations when they said that they would not go above $600 and now, with this act of callousness on the Floor,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Thursday.
The standoff over stimulus payments comes after months of intense negotiations finally yielded a compromise to inject $900 billion into the U.S. economy — including forgivable loans for small businesses, supplemental unemployment benefits, support for renters facing eviction and funds for vaccine distribution. Those measures were combined with $1.4 trillion in annual government spending, and now the entire package is in limbo.
Trump hasn’t explicitly said he would veto the legislation, which Congress finished processing Thursday after it passed both chambers on Monday. The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The bill will be flown to Florida, where Trump is spending Christmas at his private Mar-a-Lago club, according to a person familiar with the matter.
If the president doesn’t sign the bill by Monday night, the government — now operating under temporary funding — would begin a partial shutdown starting on Tuesday. The House may attempt to pass another stopgap funding measure on Monday if Trump hasn’t acted…
The House will reconvene Monday to vote on the Cash Act, a bill introduced by Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal to increase stimulus checks to $2,000. Democrats will have a video conference call before the vote to discuss Congress’s pandemic response, according to a person briefed on the plan…
Trump’s conflict with Congress further escalated this week with his veto Wednesday of the National Defense Authorization Act, which passed both chambers by large bipartisan margins earlier this month. The House plans to vote to override Trump’s veto Monday, with the Senate following suit on Tuesday. It would be the first time Congress overrules Trump.
.@SpeakerPelosi has zero [email protected] left to give??????
And I’m here for it ?? pic.twitter.com/jm5tWyTyy0
— Christopher??Merry Christmas (@cwebbonline) December 23, 2020
Can you blame her?
GOP Death Cult Open Thread: Merry Xmas, GOP ScroogesPost + Comments (100)
This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, President Biden
I would have posted this live, but I didn’t want to stomp on anyone’s post. It was a good speech and if you need a moment of normal, here it is.
Open thread
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads
DEAL ANNOUNCEMENT … MCCONNELL: “More help is on the way. Moments ago … the four leaders of the Senate and the House finalized an agreement."
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) December 20, 2020
He could’ve accepted the House HEROES Act any time since last May, but now he gets to grandstand at Christmas…
Plan in the house
— one day stop gap tonight
— 7 day stop gap tomorrow — embedded in procedural vote
— yearlong spending and covid bill tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/PcZZcBlujm— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) December 20, 2020
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) December 20, 2020
I’m not on Facebook, but I’ll be looking for further reports elsewhere…
.@SenSchumer and I will speak with reporters shortly about the new bipartisan emergency coronavirus relief and omnibus package.
Watch here: https://t.co/2fi357l3G3
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) December 20, 2020
ETA: Let’s see if this works:
Congressional Democrats have reached an agreement with Republicans and the White House on an emergency coronavirus relief and omnibus package that delivers urgently needed funds to save the lives and livelihoods of the American people. https://t.co/z9uVKPk9TP
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) December 21, 2020