Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, has openly questioned whether the GOP deserves to keep the House majority, lamenting the lack of accomplishments this Congress. He’s not alone.
When Congress began the new year, Rep. Andy Biggs gave a television interview and made a startling confession: House Republicans have done nothing they can run on.
“We have nothing. In my opinion, we have nothing to go out there and campaign on,” the Arizona Republican said on the conservative network Newsmax. “It’s embarrassing.”
Anchor Chris Salcedo responded with a bemused chuckle. “I know,” he said. “The Republican Party in the Congress majority has zero accomplishments.”
The exchange captured a dynamic that looms over Republican lawmakers heading into the 2024 election: They’ve passed little substantive legislation since winning the majority in 2022 and struggled to do the basics of governing with a Democratic-led Senate. Their first year was instead marked by fractiousness and chaos, complicating the party’s pitch to voters this fall. The challenge is accentuated by likely GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump making “retribution” against his enemies, rather than shared policy goals, the centerpiece of his comeback bid as he continues to spread fabricated claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
To be fair, they do have achievements. They’re just incredibly unpopular with the general public.
The got abortion banned, they brought back child labor in some states, they blocked support for Russia’s invasion of Europe, they’re blocking bipartisan legislation on immigration so they continue to campaign on it, they got America’s Credit rating dropped again, and they’re about to make it so federal regulators can’t keep food, water, and workplaces safe.
They were able to do a lot with their court appointments, local officials, and good old fashioned obstruction.
and they blocked support for Russia’s invasion of Europe
I know what you meant, but it reads as the opposite.
Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go donate towards children’s cancer.
You monster!
And to move the goal post on culture wars. Trans are the new browns, who were the new gays, who were the new blacks and women.
I’m sure I forgot a few boogiemen. Native Americans slot in there somewhere too.
It’s astounding to me that my conservative friends, who were raised in the 90s and totally fine with gay people, are now falling for the “Trans are a danger to their kids” bullshit.
Yeah it’s the exact same shit they did with gay people. When are people gonna drill it into their thick skulls that the GOP wants to divide people with culture war bullshit to keep us distracted while they rob us blind?
It’s because those friends are stupid. It’s really that simple.
You forgot to mention giving Hunter’s junk more exposure than he ever did. MTG is proud of that one.
That’s cuz she wants to fuck him so bad and she knows he even high as shit his standards wouldn’t go that low.
As a fan of Magic The Gathering, I really wish people would stop referring to Ms Green using her initials.
I wholeheartedly agree!
M:tG ≠ MTG
The fact that punctuation and capitalisation are necessary to distinguish the two is quite upsetting.
Would be nice if we could have a president whose offspring isn’t a problematic embarrassment of a human being, though.
Who gives a shit about his offspring? What a ridiculous red herring. What’d be nice is a PRESIDENT who isn’t a problematic embarrassment of a human being, but somehow Trump’s chances aren’t even slim.
Would be nice if assholes considered the full scale of loss and depression that the Biden family has been through and if we could have members of Congress and the public who didn’t go on irrelevant fishing expeditions for bullshit because they’re defending an even more problematic ex-president while whining about law and order.
You’re so right.
The Bidens’ tender feelings should be our collective priority here. Most definitely.
Excellent job missing the point.
Thank you.
Maybe if Republicans weren’t so focused on a private citizen’s personal issues they would have some accomplishments to campaign on.
Like that hussy Alice Roosevelt smoking cigarettes and riding in cars with men! The nerve.
Seriously, why the fuck do you care what a citizen does? They are not their parent, and vice versa.
At least Biden’s children went to college and got a job on their own, instead of simultaneously being given a business empire and federal public offices in the White House.
Drug addict or not, he’s about as problematic as Obama’s kids.
and they’re about to make it so federal regulators can’t keep food, water, and workplaces safe.
I’m glad someone is fucking paying attention to this… People seem to have no idea this is happening.
Yeah, this is going to be like the campaign finance rulings. Unlike Dobbs, it doesn’t have a harsh impact that people will instantly feel. It will go through, and American life will slowly get shittier, and people won’t be aware of the source.
It’ll be like slowly turning up the temperature on a frog in a pot.
The US House banned abortion federally in the last year? The US House is about to do away with chevron deference?
This is a Republican House member complaining that their last session has mostly been embarrassing. The highest profile thing they’ve done is had a hard time keeping a speaker.
And aren’t court appointments a senate thing?
Popularity doesn’t really matter.
They’re going to get 49% of the vote at least in most races, no matter what their record is, same as Democrats. People vote for team color, not policy.
Are they actually capable of embarrassment?
sure.
Just ask them to hold up their hand and compare sizes.
They don’t see reality, so every hand would be the biggest and the best hand.
yes, but they think you’re saying they have a small dick. (even though there’s no correlation between hand or foot size and dick size.)
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Only when they get caught having a gay hookup in a gray hound bathroom… Which has happened several times unsurprisingly
Don’t forget the restrooms in parks and other places. Also don’t forget the underage pages that were all the rage decades ago.
I find that hard to believe… Is Greyhound really still chugging along?
As long as anti gay activists, pastors, and GOP politicians keep buying bus tickets so they have an excuse to why they were found chugging cock in the public restroom, Greyhound will stay in business.
I was assuming the article said, “the GOP is embarrassing.” It’s embarrassing, Republicans - seems self evident. I mean, it’s not like 10 minutes when by and they didn’t get anything done. Weeks, months, years have gone by with GOP demonstrating no interest in governing; of course they haven’t accomplished anything.
Which is complete bullshit, they’ve wreaked havoc on civil rights and eroded the fabric of society to the point of implosion, what the fuck they talking about “we done nothing”, they did a LOT, and they should face trial and execution in the damned International Court once their fascist aspirations crumble.
That’s NOT true! They have MANY accomplishments!
They forced raped 10 year olds to give Birth! They forced poor people to pay back predatory student loans! They protected Rich CEOS who poisoned American Citizens! They ROLLED BACK Child Labor Laws! They banned the Bible and Dictionary! They made Healthcare ILLEGAL! They protected Cops who killed Kids or watched Kids DIE! They KILLED and TRAFFICKED people! They haven’t passed a Budget!
These are EXACTLY why Republicans keep voting for them! To do EXACTLY this!
They banned the Bible? I’m in favor of that. Enough bronze age superstitions running society already
They banned the Bible?
Sort of. A few districts in states where they instituted “parental oversight” laws got challenges for the bible, so it was temporarily removed from school libraries until it could go through the review process. AFAIK in every case, it was rubber-stamped instead of facing a review consistent with other challenged books.
What.
I mean that’s fukn amazing.
This brings great joy to me, thank you for the update.
Hahahajajajajja
“Keep hurting the people we want hurt, you’re doing great!”
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Yeah I’m pretty certain if trump held his campaign solely based off of that, he’d get two-folds the amount of votes from republicans excited to punish women for thinking they have rights. /s
how many of those were there?
It only works if they can maintain cognitive dissonance. Can’t brag about reality.
They could start by passing a clean Ukraine lethal aid bill in the House that exceeds what Biden is asking for. Funding for high paying American jobs always sells well. And it’s a win-win that those high paying American jobs are to produce modern weapons like PrSM to upgrade the US Army’s capability, enabling them to pass old ATACMS to Ukraine to dispatch Russian invaders.
More military spending? Is that what we’re supposed to be routing for?
I think that guy is right though, strategically speaking. It would be in their (garbage republicans) best interest to pass some benefit for the military industrial complex that’s kept them in power, because right now they have nothing.
It’s kind of hilarious that Russia was a US conservative’s worst enemy until 2015. 10 years ago a Ukraine bill would have basically no opposition (assuming post Maidan), but Russia has clearly made inroads with the far-right grifters lol.
Russia has clearly made inroads with the far-right grifters
This is why they won’t pass any massive military spending bills, especially those that have to do with Ukraine. They’re all being paid by the Russians, and allowing Ukraine to continue to do well hits them in the pockets more directly than all the other super PACs combined.
Putin bought them out after we started supplying/selling weapons to Ukraine after the 2014 Crimea invasion, with Obama and everyone pushing hard to get Ukraine out of Putin’s sphere of influence. (complete with supporting the Euromaidan, and “the revolution of dignity”… )
100% Putin made an investment in the republican party. It’s paying off wonderfully for him.
I think we should ship Putin everything he paid for. Air drop them into that village they built, just for expats…
I’m personally more hawkish than others on the left, i feel. Even if we cut the military budget in half we’d still have the strongest military by a large margin. If Ukraine isn’t a situation for the richest country in the history of the world to support, what is?
Not necessarily, but it really demonstrates that they can’t deliver even when their base and Dem colleagues would support it.
In general, no.
When it supports to defend itself and to drain Russia’s military capabilities through attrition, YES.
“We just wish we could have destroyed a bigger part of society and caused additional policy disasters… Sometimes I wonder if we are really evil anymore…”
“The Republican Party is a caucus, representing many different viewpoints. Some of my colleagues wish to worsen the lives of poor people. Others prefer to focus on worsening the lives of minorities. Still others prioritize their personal financial well-being. With this diversity of opinions, it can be hard to find common ground.”
Would you kindly provide me with a source for the quote?
Guess they can’t really brag about where they actually focus energy: stonewalling any and all progress and poisoning the public’s opinion and trust of “the Other”, whatever the target may be.
Anything that doesn’t benefit big oil.
There’s plenty other industries they support. Arms, drugs, finance, probably human trafficking but that’s just an educated guess.
Who needs achievement when you have fascism on the menu for 2024?
Tfw your main campaign promises are all the things you’re not supposed to say out loud
Bragging about accomplishments and compromise is the old way to campaign.
The modern form of getting elected is not to actually do anything. Because if you solve a problem then you can’t scare your voters with that problem in the future.
An example of this is abortion. Conservatives could always count on the one issue, “pro-life” voter to give them their vote to ban abortion. Now that it’s become easier for states to restrict abortion there is less incentive for these one issue voters to come out to the polls.
I fear that the left is starting to see the effectiveness of the “scare the voter” strategy and will drag their feet on certain hot topic issues like abortion so they can get more votes.
What is this, Brexit?
- Managed to delay starting work for weeks due to Speaker votes impasse
- Held numerous hearings investigating Biden’s son and the origins of COVID-19, resulting in no substantial findings
- Ensured that an $858 billion defense spending bill passed, but it was mostly a continuation of previous policies
- Brought forth a bill proposing cutting federal food stamp benefits by approximately $13 billion over ten years
- Passed a resolution condemning Antifa and Critical Race Theory, without any legislative actions following through
- Held multiple congressional meetings on the dangers of TikTok and Big Tech while doing little about them
- Introduced and passed a bill prohibiting federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender minors, which President Biden ultimately vetoed
- Pushed for a national sales tax to replace income taxes but failed to gain support
- Proposed a bill to ban earmarks but later reversed their decision after facing backlash from within the party
- Made headlines with a proposal to cut off federal funds for schools teaching “divisive concepts,” but the bill died in committee.
On the talks with the social media companies didn’t they make sure government couldn’t interfere? They delayed the promotion of the military officers over abortion
So there’s actually two things there that sound good to me, that I immediately doubt because if Republicans were in favor of it I have to assume there’s something horrible about it…
What’s bad about a national sales tax, and banning earmarks? Those kinda sound like good things to me.
Sales taxes disproportionately impact the poor.
First, any tax that’s a fixed percentage will be a higher percentage of a person’s income even that income is lower.
Secondly, there’s a point in “wealth generation” where you don’t spend everything you make. Money that you save isn’t taxed by a sales tax – so, again, the less money you make, the more it impacts you.
Regarding “earmarks” it really depends on what it’s for. As a blanket statement, “Earmarks Are Bad” is just a small government taking point – which itself can be understood as an anti-poor dog whistle, since conservatives call support for society’s most vulnerable “wasteful spending” – but you can often hear “earmarks” in reference to defense spending, which is typically a Democrat talking point.
I think that “earmarks” is actually a really interesting word, since, in a practical sense, it never means anything – or, more accurately, it always means nothing specific but I’m a vaguely specific way. The word doesn’t refer to a specific spend, but it refers to a specific kind of spend – so it sounds much more specific than it actually is.
If a politician refers to a specific earmark, they run the risk of alienating whoever benefits from it; by being exceptionally vague, they can associate their brand with fiscal responsibility without actually doing anything fiscally responsible.
I’m just curious what a world with sales taxes instead of income tax would look like. I’m sure that the poor, and the retired, would be disproportionately impacted. But income taxes are impacting most of us, right up the ass, all the time. And what a waste of time, energy all the tax filing nonsense is. That’s not fair, either, and I want to be freed from it.
I didn’t express good OR bad. I just listed some of the things that were done.
What?
Attempting to restrict medical care and the rights of gay people not sitting well with you?
Isn’t that what they wanted?
What, cant run on grievances in perpetuity?
It really seems like they can, which is why the headline is kind of bizarre.
They can’t go on indefinitely. It works because they attack each other in purity contests; the fight over speakers (twice) was one major front in this. Eventually, you run out of people to purify and need to invent a whole new issue. If you don’t, your support evaporates as people look for actual solutions to their problems.
There’s a strategy here that I don’t think has been fully utilized. If you can get the right to speedrun their purity contests against each other, you might be able to watch them eat each other quietly in a corner rather than dragging the whole country into fascism.
And for some reason the bit about Trump running on revenge is put as a negative… Newsmax/Fox brainwashed magas live for vengeance, they LOVE Trump because he’s a vehicle to attack people they don’t like.
The GOP is stuck in the “good” old ways of thinking about selling themselves to the population via the things they’ve done. Trump just says “elect me and help you kill liberals.”
Having no achievements never stopped them before.
The ignorant and impotent are the angriest , loudest, forked-tongued demons there are. Like burnt out junkie mothers screaming at their children.
They have a base of people who don’t care about material change or want any policy that is net positive in their lives.
