House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, left, greets President Joe Biden at the 2023 State of the Union Address. White House photo via Wikipedia.
By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | The McCarthy controlled House GOP Steering Committee has assigned Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG) to two important 118th Congress House Committees: Oversight and Accountability; and Homeland Security. What could he have been thinking?
Oh, right, he was thinking about how to overcome the opposition of the radical right-wing (misnamed) Freedom Caucus and get elected Speaker. Doing what helped Kevin McCarthy, rather than doing what is good for America, which would be bi-partisan cooperation. The same reason that he has not advocated passing a new debt ceiling (to pay off already incurred debts), even though he voted for raising it every time President Trump wanted it.
So, what will MTG do on the Oversight Committee? In her own words: investigate “the Biden Crime Family,” including “corrupt business dealing, every foreign entanglement, every abuse of power, and every check cut.”
Wonderful, we will totally waste taxpayer dollars for the next two years investigating the president’s son, solely for political purposes. And then hearing Georgia’s MTG on Fox News talking about how Hunter Biden’s laptop is a security threat to world peace, along with Jewish space lasers. But she has no evidence to prove that unfounded assertion.
And what about Homeland Security? Per MTG: “Our Border Patrol and ICE agents have their hands tied and have been turned into a welcoming committee by the Biden administration.” So, President Biden wants the political headache of mass immigration by undocumented people at our southern border? That only makes sense to brainwashed people who have lost their sense of reality.
Immigration has been a major political headache for the United States, so why would he want to make it worse?
At the same time, Speaker McCarthy has blocked respected California Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from getting their usual Intelligence Committee assignments. Until the GOP took the House, Schiff chaired this committee adroitly.
McCarthy has done the same for Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota regarding the Foreign Affairs Committee. I have written about Rep. Omar in the past. Specifically, I believe her past statements conclusively show her to be an anti-Semite. However, she was duly elected. That means she has a right to be on appropriate committees, such as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, even if I disagree with her positions on Israel.
As for Reps. Schiff and Swalwell, they are two of the most competent legislators in the House. They are simply being pulled off their committees by McCarthy as an act of revenge. As these Representatives stated, McCarthy –“capitulated to the right wing of his caucus” in order to be elected Speaker.
The Republican Party has loudly proclaimed itself to be the party that makes government work. But, by capitulating to the farthest right-wing elements in the House, McCarthy has ensured that little will be accomplished in the House in 2023 and 2024. McCarthy has set the stage for increased conflict and even less bi-partisan cooperation, the exact opposite of what the American public desires. It is the antithesis of good governmental operations.
You must wonder will that be interpreted by the people as a reason to back the Democrats in next fall’s elections.
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