Yahoo Movies The Never Trump Republican Heroes Are Still, at the End of the Day, Republicans
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a bill aimed at funding the government through December, raising the debt ceiling, and providing relief for Afghan refugees and for victims of natural disasters in this country. The measure passed by a straight party-line vote. The bill now proceeds to the Senate, where it is assumed that the Republican minority will kill it most sincerely dead. Within the House vote, however, there are some leading indicators of where the root cause of why nothing really works anymore can be found.
For example, both of the anti-Trump heroes Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger voted against the bill. Ultimately, they are still Republicans, and therefore don’t really give a damn.
Also, from the New York Times:
The package would also provide $6.3 billion to help Afghan refugees resettle in the United States and $28.6 billion to help communities rebuild from hurricanes, wildfires and other recent natural disasters. It would lift the federal debt limit through Dec. 16, 2022.
Obviously, there’s a lot of rebuilding to be done in the Gulfside parishes of Louisiana in the aftermath of several hurricanes, including Ida. And yet every Republican in the Louisiana House delegation voted against the bill, because they are Republicans and don’t really give a damn. These included Congressman Garret Graves, who represents Lafourche Parish, which took Ida’s fury right in the chops. Graves is Deeply Concerned for his constituents whose lives were detonated by the storm but, unfortunately, he is more concerned with The Deficit, because he is a Republican, and therefore doesn’t really give a damn.
At the last minute, Speaker Pelosi added a poison pill to the bill that allows the Biden Administration to increase the national debt from the current $28,700,000,000,000 ($28.7 trillion) without limit. The current debt is equivalent to $87,000 for every man, woman and child. Previously, their request would have increased the national debt to $45,000,000,000,000 ($45 trillion) by 2031, over $350,000 per taxpayer.
You will note that Rep. Graves is pulling the old debt-ceiling okey-doke on the people back home. Raising the debt ceiling does not add to the debt. It merely enables the government to pay the bills it already has accrued. I’m sure that the distinction is lost on the average citizen of Lafourche Parish, who’s just trying to find out where his carport finally landed. Graves’s job is to look out for the interests of that guy, and not to lie to him, but Graves is a Republican and, therefore, doesn’t really give a damn.
These are things to keep in mind as the ‘rasslin’ match over the economy grinds on. Lost in all the squabbling, and I include the intramural Democratic head-banging in this assessment, is a clear decision on what action the national legislature can take to simply help the country. Right now, the argument seems to focus mainly on grim process and garish posturing. The progressives in the House have been willing to go for compromise after compromise and still stand accused of recalcitrance and sabotage anyway when, in fact, it is the so called “centrist” bloc of conservative Democrats who are most obviously undermining the administration’s agenda. Time’s a’wasting, and the problems—the real damn problems—are getting bigger.
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