Where to begin? Marjorie Taylor Greene is few Republican’s idea of a messenger. Mike Johnson might have thought giving her a Committee Chairmanship would keep her busy and she’d shut the hell up most of the time. Well, for those of us who pay attention to political stuff in DC Marge has been criticizing stuff on a regular basis. Including (gasp!) some of what Trumpty himself has said/done! Now she’s taking her fellow House Republicans to task (and the Senate too I guess) for not passing rescissions of stuff Trump has cut (no) thanks to DOGE recommendations.
I realize this is going to get into political geek territory but trust me when I say pay attention boys and girls. “Rescission Wars” are coming and to a program(s) you like or maybe even depend on. I’m sure the last thing Margie intended was to send up a warning flare but she’s done so. Everyone should take a look at what it’s revealing. MTG may not have her very own Jewish Space Laser but she’s got a political megaphone and she’s found yet another thing on which to say her fellow GOPers are blowing it as you can see from this article from 2paragraphs. In a lengthy tweet (sorry, I still can’t figure out how to embed them) Marjie lays it out:
Don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just going to tell you what I’ve been told.
There is extreme frustration, rightfully so and I agree, not seeing DOGE cuts being passed through Congress in the form of rescission bills.
I have been told that White House OMB is working with the House Appropriations Committee on a rescission package that we are supposed to see after we get done arguing with each other over this reconciliation bill – Trump’s big beautiful bill.
And I’m still unclear why we aren’t passing executive orders every week. I was told we are waiting to get done with reconciliation. And that a portion of them have already been drafted with input from the WH.
In my opinion we should walk and chew gum at the same time.
So far this week, we saw members of Congress fall asleep in absurdly long overnight committee markups for reconciliation, we have voted to rename a park and a historical site, and voted on the 19th antisemitism bill since I’ve been in Congress. 19! I skipped that vote yesterday because I’m not going to participate in that constant demand.
She concludes with a bit of talk about just wanting to pass Trump’s agenda people voted for last November and not understanding why all this is so hard. Although this is MTG there’s actually some stuff to unpack in her tweet. She actually, and I can’t believe I’m saying this (the strange sound you’re about to hear is Hell freezing over) says some things that make sense. For example Congress Critters (even Republicans) SHOULD be able to ‘walk and chew gum at the same time.’ I also was stunned at her comment about the ridiculousness of passing yet another (by her count the 19th) anti-semitism bill. I guess she figures if they haven’t made their point by now it’s a waste of time. See what I mean about being gobsmacked over MTG of all people making even a little sense?
Well, as you know Congressional Republicans are focused on passing Trumpty’s so-called big & beautiful budget bill. That you probably know has turned out to be anything but simple, or a sure thing. It turns out GOPers have constituents giving them hell over lots of the proposed cuts to programs even folks in Red states want left alone. (Trump was only supposed to put the screws to “those” people, the “other” so to speak) The WH doesn’t want to have to put up with the whole rescission process at all but even if Congress (the GOP part) was to keep rolling over the courts would not. Funny thing, Congress including more than a few Republicans is starting to try and reclaim some of the power it’s ceded to Presidents in my lifetime!
I guess someone explained in simple enough terms with a presentation that somehow used pictures to help make the point that there’s an actual, fairly quick process called Rescission he can use to NOT spend money that Congress has appropriated. You can read details on the law passed in 1974 to do this here. Given the fights to come you might want to refer back to it but the bare bones version is straightforward. A President can ask Congress to “undo”, or rescind spending it has authorized that’s been signed into law. It takes a formal request of the specific item(s) the President wants to cut, and Congress has up to 45 days to agree. Or not. If you want the details check out that link I provided.
My reason for writing about this tonight is that if you’re a political junkie this is interesting, and in the larger sense those who aren’t should be paying attention too. It IS going to be a BFD at some point. What we have at the moment is the WH accepting that it’s got to do things by the book because the courts will block him otherwise. Instead of sending rescission after rescission piecemeal to Congress they want to bundle it all together. Let’s look at why.
As I’ve said an awful lot of these cuts are turning out to be bigly unpopular even with MAGAs. They’ve been speaking out in fact. That’s got a lot of Republicans, especially in the House spooked. I’m enjoying the fact they are caught between the proverbial ‘get primaried’ rock if they don’t go along with Trump wants and the ‘hard place’ of voters winding up pissed over getting exactly what they thought they wanted. My guess is that many of the Rescissions Trump wants would get bogged down and the 45 day clock would run out. At that point there’s nowhere he can turn – the law is explicit in saying if Congress doesn’t approve any given rescission it’s game over and Treasury has to send out the money. That’s why Presidents are cautious about going down this road.
The thinking has to be that by creating a big package of rescissions Congress will wind up saying screw it and approve many of them. Oh, the WH probably figures they’ll lose here and there but a ‘big, beautiful rescission bill’ is something they figure they can browbeat Congressional Republicans into going along with. I’m not so sure. Even with the abbreviated House-Senate conference (you KNOW each chamber will approve/reject various parts of what Trumpty wants) this whole strategy might backfire.
Could it be MTG thinks the same thing and that’s why she’s howling at the moon to take them on as they come? Hey with all the other fire-hose of crap flowing from this administration that might actually be the best option to cut at least some spending. We’ll see. For the moment I think her fellow Republicans are like me – don’t shoot ‘Messenger Marge’ but it’s long past time to put a roll of duct tape to good use to shut her the hell up. Even if for once she spoke up with something everyone should hear.
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“…they are caught between the proverbial ‘get primaried’ rock if they don’t go along with Trump wants and the ‘hard place’ of voters winding up pissed over getting exactly what they thought they wanted.”
Would you like to lose the primary election or the November one? Your stupidity, your choice.
The sheer tonnage of stupidity in the GOP boggles the mind. Brings to mind a Gary Lawson cartoon showing a boy pushing on a door with a sign in front of him that says Pull to open. I hoped Ms Ed the talking mule from GA would retire with all the illegal money she made off of the tariff stock trades. Goddamn Jews must be stopped. Or is it the blacks? The brown folks? The liberals? Hell…I lose track of the objects of their ignorance and hate.