Many Democrats are saying that they’ve drawn a “red line” against cooperating with Republicans who refused to acknowledge Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
Liberals are absolutely in love with gestures that don’t mean anything so their attitude is perfectly understandable. In this case, non-cooperation between members, even on routine matters like naming a post office, only works to slow down the business of the House. This plays directly into the hands of Republicans, who are out to gum up the workings of the House anyway.
If you listen to the reasoning of some of these people you realize they’re using the “Thomas More standard” to decide whom to work with and whom to shun.
More, a chancellor of England during the reign of Henry VIII, was beheaded because he refused to acknowledge the supremacy of the king in church matters and also refused to recognize Henry’s divorce from Catherine. Reading some of these Democrats, you realize they would have fit right in with the beheaders.
Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., has a basic requirement before he can work with a Republican: “At the fundamental level, I need an affirmative statement that Joe Biden is the legitimate president of the United States and the 2020 election was an honest and fair election.”
Schneider, a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus that is known for reaching across the aisle, said that in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot, he has had to cut off previous working relationships.
Did Schneider ask that question of any of his Democratic colleagues in 2016? Just asking.
“It’s hard to envision going into an administration with a partner who doesn’t acknowledge the legitimacy of that administration or is showing a commitment to the truth,” Schneider said. Participants in the Russian collusion who elected Trump couldn’t be reached for comment.
The obliviousness of Democratic congressmen is stupefying. How many of them questioned Trump’s legitimacy? Anyone remember “the resistance” or “not my president”? Lord God what hypocrites.
The slowdown is definitely not one-sided. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has been forcing votes on adjournment on several issues. Adjournment requires a vote by an electronic device, which means members must be physically present, in most cases, in the House chamber to vote.
It’s a terrible annoyance and inconvenience and even Republicans are getting tired of it. There are other delay tactics by the GOP as well.
A small number of Republicans are blocking the quick passage of typically noncontroversial, bipartisan bills in the House known as suspension bills because of frustration with Democrats for not allowing amendments on legislation.
“Suspensions are, frankly, the one item that we have left that we have dealt with on a bipartisan basis,” House Democratic Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Tuesday.
Most of those GOP congressmen that Democrats are refusing to work with will be in Congress for a long time. We’ll see how long this “non-cooperation” continues when Democrats need that cooperation to conduct even routine business.
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