The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

This is the nonsense that passes for legislative and political strength in today's GOP. The last time I checked, both the House and the Senate were Republican controlled during the first two years of President Trump's term, so where was the "strong debt limit bill" then? And for that matter, where was the one sentence bill repealing the Affordable Care Act? Or significant legislation defending our 2nd Amendment guarantees against the onslaughts of the BATF? Or legislation reining in the IRS?

The reality is that this is posturing for the media, for the donor class, for the retail donations that seem to be the raison d'être of the Republican party. The bully pulpit afforded the House of Representatives with the introduction of spending and other bills has been dissipated by the breathtaking abrogation of their legal responsibilities by allowing the administration and the administrative state to control spending, and to avoid congressional control via executive order.

RSC Chairman Kevin Hern Calls For 'Strong Debt Limit Bill' By End Of April

Hern is promoting the Republican Study Committee’s budget blueprint, which is intended to balance the federal budget within 10 years. It cuts entitlement spending, reforms the tax code to encourage family formation, and expands domestic carbon energy production. The RSC’s debt ceiling playbook, released in January, urges cuts to discretionary spending while promoting similar energy policies and adjustments to the tax code.

“The debt limit talks we have had to date have been invaluable. But the time for discussion is coming to an end. The time for action is now,” Hern wrote Wednesday in a letter to RSC colleagues, obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller. “In just five days, House members will return to Washington. Passage of a strong debt limit bill before the end of the April legislative session must be the chamber’s top priority.”

Yes, Kevin McCarthy has been pleasingly strong...because the Trump faction in the House have held his feet to the fire. But these efforts are doomed to failure and are simply a diversion, essentially business-as-usual in the face of an out-of-control administration that legislates at will, creates obviously unconstitutional mandates that aim to control every facet of our lives.

And the Republicans are playing games as if the future of our country were not at stake. What is the best case here? Some trivial decrease in the rate of increase of the federal budget? Instead of an 11% increase in funding for the welfare state the Democrat junta will agree to 9.8%, and then fundraise for two years by saying that the Republican party is out of touch and only looks after the wealthy.

Meanwhile the administration unilaterally shifts our economy from petroleum to ephemeral, somewhere-in-the-future-it-may-work electric-based, simply by unleashing their regulatory drones. And that new economy will be run by transgenders, who the administration has elevated to iconic status in the eyes -- and regulations -- of the federal leviathan. "Banality of Evil" indeed!

A better strategy would be to write a simple spending bill, then spend the next 18 months working to find the best candidates for Senate and the House, and work even harder to protect the integrity of voting in each home district. Business-as-usual simply will not work, and immediately cedes the fight to the Democrat/socialist junta that does not care a whit what the current feckless Republicans do.

But don't hold your breath.

posted by CBD at 10:53 AM

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