Good morning to everyone who is not a member of Congress

 The median net worth of an American household in 2023 was less than $200,000.

The median net worth of a current member of the U.S. Congress is $1,000,000. 

 

Victor Davis Hanson is as blind to reality as Trump

 

Victor Davis Hanson: Trump Is Stronger Than He Ever Was, The Left Is Desperate

 

 

Trump II started his term with a 5-seat advantage in the U.S. House. 

 

Trump I started his term with a 47-seat advantage.

 

Nothing lasting was achieved the first time with a huge majority, and sure as hell won't be this time because he's incompetent and the Congress hates his guts.

 

The resignation of Marjorie Taylor Greene may be just the tip of the iceberg about to sink Trump II forever. But even if it's not, a 5-seat advantage screams gridlock if Republicans will not compromise on anything.

 

Trump can issue all the Executive Orders he wants. They will be undone. He can declare all the emergencies he wants. They will be ended. 

 

There is no substitute for legislation, and he's not going to get any.

 

Meanwhile the Department of Defense is still the Department of Defense, my shrimp still come from the Gulf of Mexico, and the Great White North is still Canada, eh?

 

 

 

 

 

  

The US House and Senate wanted this Epstein business out of their hands so fast it makes your head spin

So the legislative branch is ordering the executive branch to  D O   S O M E T H I N G.

The legislative branch ordered TikTok to do something by last January, you'll recall, but the executive and its Department of Justice found a way around that.

They'll find a way around this, too.

The foxes remain in charge of the henhouse. 

 

The fix is in on the Epstein files vote: MoveOn in action

 Trump last night reversed himself and said the House should vote to release the Epstein files.

Vote they will, except Speaker Johnson has rigged it so that the vote will be under suspension of the rules.

Which means they don't need a mere majority to pass it. They'll need 2/3 . . . of those present.

It's a 219 GOP to 214 Dem U. S. House. 

If they all show up the bill needs 286 Yeas to pass.

Good luck with that. 

"See, we voted. But aw shucks, it didn't get enough votes to pass. Oh well, time to move on as Trump said."

 

 

Representative Grijalva was sworn in today as the US House opened for business, became the 218th signature on Rep. Massie's petition forcing a vote to release the Epstein files

 Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva sworn in after contentious seven-week delay

... Grijalva represents the 218th signature on a bipartisan discharge petition, which will allow rank-and-file lawmakers to bypass Johnson and his leadership team and force a floor vote to release files. She signed the petition as her first act as a member of Congress.

That will force the House to hold a vote in the coming weeks to compel the Justice Department to release all of the files related to its investigation into Epstein. But the bill is unlikely to pass the Senate or be signed into law by Trump, who has personally urged Republicans to block the discharge push. ...

 

Jeffrey Epstein files: House speaker announces vote next week on release of docs

... Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., provided the 218th signature needed to approve the so-called discharge petition shortly after she was sworn in as a House member, after a seven-week delay. Griljalva won a special election to fill the seat vacated due to the death of her father, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, in March. ...

Even if the effort passes in the House, it is unlikely to become law. The bill would have to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate, and Trump could veto it even if it survived a vote in that chamber. ...

 

House passes continuing spending resolution 222-209 and sends it to Trump who will sign the bill and end the longest federal government shutdown tonight

 House passes funding bill to end record-long government shutdown, Trump set to sign

The Republican-controlled U.S. House will not have been in session for almost 80% of its work days in 19 weeks, which a more competent GOP would be using to advance its agenda

The Epstein files quietly wait for them to return.

Democrat Adelita Grijalva, elected on September 23rd, remains unsworn-in.

 

The president's tariff retaliation against Canada is purely out of personal pique and is a tyrannical abuse of power

The Congress has the tariff authority, not the president, according to the constitution, and needs to reign in the powers it has delegated to the executive if it cares what is good for the country.

65% of the country disapproves of the GOP-controlled Congress. 

 

ROFLMAO: The time-challenged imbeciles at The Washington Times forget to mention it was Trump's incompetent, biased, rigged 2020 census

 

Botched Census 'Accidentally' Handed Dems 6 House Votes

Washington Times

 

... The 2020 population count was rigged ... We’re just supposed to believe it was a coincidence that Mr. Biden’s allies were the beneficiaries in almost every instance ... The Constitution requires an “actual enumeration” ... not a guestimate maximizing the inclusion of illegal aliens that the prior administration let into the country by the millions. ...

 

Ah, hello, whose prior administration? Trump's? Which did nothing about illegal immigration for four years? That prior administration?

 

About 1 million foreign born actually left the country during 2019 and 2020 because the country shut down for the pandemic, after Trump I let in about 1.75 million from 2016.

 

The flood of millions into the country started in late 2021, a year after the census had already been completed.

 

This has to be one of the top 10 stupidest editorials I have ever read.

 

And we're supposed to believe that Trump will get it right if he does another census, which will be outside the constitution? 

 

Third time's a charm

 

SPEAKER: THERE WILL BE 3RD IMPEACHMENT IF DEMS TAKE HOUSE...

 

 

Harvey Weinstein to be tried for third time in New York...

 

GOP U. S. House of Representatives decides to . . .

Not sure what they're smokin' over there at CNBC this afternoon: 

House speaker starts August recess early to avoid Jeffrey Epstein votes

 

... On Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said he was speaking with Maxwell’s defense lawyer to see if Maxwell “would be willing to speak with prosecutors” to see if she “has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims.” ...

... Blanche previously served as a criminal defense lawyer for Trump when the president was indicted in four separate cases after ending his first White House term in January 2017. ...

U. S. House GOP majority declines to 219-212 as Mark Green of TN-7 resigns, as expected

 Story.

Democrats are down three seats temporarily due to deaths. 

The GOP House bowed down and worshipped before the GOP Senate and voted for its reconciliation bill lock, stock, and barrel today at 2:30pm, including all the clowns of the House Freedom Caucus

The roll call vote is here.

The $36 trillion national debt will soar.

The interest payments on that debt were $639 billion fiscal year to date at the end of May, and they will soar, too.

The so-called fiscal conservatives of the House Freedom Caucus could have stopped this monstrosity, but they all backed down save for Massie and Fitzpatrick, and they aren't even members.

The entire House Freedom Caucus voted for it. 

 

 

Hakeem Jeffries has finished his speech in the US House, which took 8 hours and 44 minutes, a new record

 

GOP coward Senator Lisa Murkowski today hopes the US House will fix the reconciliation bill she just voted for, just like GOP coward Rep. Chip Roy hoped in May the US Senate would fix the reconciliation bill he just voted for

 You can't make this up!

Cowards hope someone else will do what must be done.

Heroes do it themselves.

Vote Nay for once!

 

 

The GOP will temporarily lose another seat in the US House for several months as Rep. Mark Green (TN-7) is expected to retire immediately after the Congress sends the reconciliation bill to Trump for his signature

 

House GOP votes for tax breaks for rich Democrats from Blue states like New York, New Jersey, and California lol

 

House Republican tax bill passes ‘SALT’ deduction cap of $40,000. Here’s who benefits 

 

... Enacted via the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA, of 2017, there’s currently a $10,000 limit on the SALT deduction, and raising that cap has been a priority for certain House lawmakers in high-tax states like New York, New Jersey and California. Filers must itemize deductions to claim the tax break for SALT.

If the House provision is enacted, the SALT cap would rise to $40,000, up from $30,000 in the previous plan, and phases out over $500,000, according to revised language released by the House Rules Committee. The provision would go into effect in 2025. ...

“Any changes to lift the cap would primarily benefit higher earners,” Garrett Watson, director of policy analysis at the Tax Foundation, wrote in an analysis on Tuesday.

With an income phaseout over $400,000, the top 20% of taxpayers “would be the only group to meaningfully benefit,” Watson wrote. ...

Democrat US House math suffers another blow: Gerald E. Connolly (VA-11) succumbs to cancer at age 75

 CNBC reported here.

House Democrats will now have three vacancies and a caucus of 212 vs. 220 for the GOP. 

Representatives Turner (TX-18) and Grijalva (AZ-7) died in March.

Republicans finally advanced their budget out of committee late last night, but just barely

 

Evidently 43 US House GOP are not down for the shtruggle against Iran