Republicans in Disarray

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

One of their first actions will be to repeal the funding of 87,000 IRS agents. They understand it takes tremendous manpower to audit the rich and powerful, so they can’t have that. Shame.

- Doc

[Res Ipsa]

One of their first actions will be to repeal the funding of 87,000 IRS agents. They understand it takes tremendous manpower to audit the rich and powerful, so they can’t have that. Shame.

- Doc

They can vote to repeal, but they can’t repeal. It was passed in the continual resolution. Purely a show vote.

[Res Ipsa]

Looks final.

It's final. Now for the question regarding what concessions were given so that the holdouts stood down?

CNN:
But with less than a minute left to go in the vote, Gaetz moved toward the front of the chamber, grabbing a red index card to change his vote on adjournment. Gaetz walked toward McCarthy, and the two briefly exchanged words. McCarthy then raised his hand and yelled out, “One more!” as he triumphantly walked toward the front of the chamber to change his vote, too. It was the GOP leader’s final negotiation capping an emotional roller coaster over the course of four days as he was held hostage by a narrow faction of his conference. Dozens of Republicans followed McCarthy and Gaetz to defeat the adjournment measure, and McCarthy’s victory, at last, was at hand.

The six Republican holdouts all voted present on the 15th ballot, giving McCarthy a 216-212 victory to end the longest speaker’s race since 1859. Rep. Tom Emmer, one of McCarthy’s top deputies, went up and down the aisles telling Republicans on the House floor not to clap for Gaetz or Rep. Lauren Boebert when they announced their votes, like they had for other holdouts who had flipped to McCarthy earlier in the day.

Asked why he reversed course on McCarthy, Gaetz said, “I ran out of things I could even imagine to ask for.”

I watched that whole interaction, but I guessed Gaetz was signing a deal with McCarthy. When both began chanting “one more vote,” I was pretty sure it was over.

[Gadianton]

That's interesting, because he in particular insisted it isn't about concessions but character, and he would never vote yes because McCarthy doesn't have character. McCarthy doesn't have any principles. (I think he's right, but when talking about right-wingers, it's actually better not to have principles). Anyway, Gaetz was so insistent on this that I don't believe McCarthy conceded anything material to him.

I believe a vested third party bribed Gaetz with good old cash.

Gaetz may be unhinged but he's pretty logical and consistent and that response, "I ran out of things to ask for" is 100% incongruent with every statement he's made during the deadlock.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

One of their first actions will be to repeal the funding of 87,000 IRS agents. They understand it takes tremendous manpower to audit the rich and powerful, so they can’t have that. Shame.

- Doc

They can vote to repeal, but they can’t repeal. It was passed in the continual resolution. Purely a show vote.

Correct, I should’ve said vote to repeal. One angle I worry about is the GOP will ‘oversight to death’ the funding, which is a bureaucratic way of essentially defunding something if they make it impossible to meet reporting requirements that are either opaque or so onerous that a politician can simply claim the agency didn’t do their due diligence - and then funds aren’t released (or the agency is ‘fined’ to death).

The GOP has been lying about the IRS for years, scaring the crap out of Americans and allowing tax cheats to get away with, well, not paying taxes. I don’t believe the GOP is just going to roll over on their claims, so they have to show their base that they’re “fighting for them.” In other words, that $80B isn’t guaranteed, and we’ll see how the GOP is going to leverage their obstinance toward the IRS to either chip away at that money, or use it as a bargaining chip for future legislation.

- Doc

[honorentheos]

That's interesting, because he in particular insisted it isn't about concessions but character, and he would never vote yes because McCarthy doesn't have character. McCarthy doesn't have any principles. (I think he's right, but when talking about right-wingers, it's actually better not to have principles). Anyway, Gaetz was so insistent on this that I don't believe McCarthy conceded anything material to him.

I believe a vested third party bribed Gaetz with good old cash.

Gaetz may be unhinged but he's pretty logical and consistent and that response, "I ran out of things to ask for" is 100% incongruent with every statement he's made during the deadlock.

It sounded like Gaetz was demanding a particular position on a subcommittee early this week that McCarthy denied. The small fight on the floor after the 14th vote appears to have been around that item, and it leaves me thinking the more interesting information yet to come will be in the form of not only the rules, but which committee assignments the holdouts receive.

[Res Ipsa]

They can vote to repeal, but they can’t repeal. It was passed in the continual resolution. Purely a show vote.

Correct, I should’ve said vote to repeal. One angle I worry about is the GOP will ‘oversight to death’ the funding, which is a bureaucratic way of essentially defunding something if they make it impossible to meet reporting requirements that are either opaque or so onerous that a politician can simply claim the agency didn’t do their due diligence - and then funds aren’t released (or the agency is ‘fined’ to death).

The GOP has been lying about the IRS for years, scaring the crap out of Americans and allowing tax cheats to get away with, well, not paying taxes. I don’t believe the GOP is just going to roll over on their claims, so they have to show their base that they’re “fighting for them.” In other words, that $80B isn’t guaranteed, and we’ll see how the GOP is going to leverage their obstinance toward the IRS to either chip away at that money, or use it as a bargaining chip for future legislation.

- Doc

I have the same concerns. The game plan is to sabotage the federal government and use the resulting problems to claim that entire programs and departments should be cancelled. They’ve never given up on the goal of making the federal government so small you could drown it in a bathtub. They’ve just escalated to not so subtle sabotage.

[ajax18]

It's kind of scary to me that my representatives had to fight other Republicans so hard for this. Most of this should be a given, especially stopping the weaponization of the IRS and DOJ against conservatives.

[Vēritās]

Most of this should be a given, especially stopping the weaponization of the IRS and DOJ against conservatives.

No serious person believes this. Your problem is that you cling to a party that is so corrupt and lawless that when they get busted for ethical or legal issues all you do make excuses and blindly accept their "poor me I'm so politically persecuted" gambit because refusing to be responsible for your actions is just another trait that defines today's GOP.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Most of this should be a given, especially stopping the weaponization of the IRS and DOJ against conservatives.

No serious person believes this. Your problem is that you cling to a party that is so corrupt and lawless that when they get busted for ethical or legal issues all you do make excuses and blindly accept their "poor me I'm so politically persecuted" gambit because refusing to be responsible for your actions is just another trait that defines today's GOP.

So, it’s institutional discrimination when the GOP is popped for criminality? Huh.

- Doc