Post # 316, Bob McKnight's Florida Commentary
Republicans supporting Russia and opposing a strong U.S. military. Never...until now.
The U.S. House of Representatives has been under Republican control since 2022. But it has been by only a handful of votes. Since Trump's election in 2016, the GOP has seen the rise of the extreme conservative wing of the Party called the Freedom Caucus. It totals approximately 20% of the House Republican members but is the most passionate and pugnacious of all the members of Congress. Unfortunately, the Freedom Caucus is also the least experienced and knowledgeable about the history of lawmaking. The leader of the Freedom Caucus is firebrand Jim Jordan of Ohio, a former wrestling coach at Ohio State University. The Speaker of the House, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana is what is is called in the Congress, "A Backbencher." These members of Congress will not qualify for a "Profiles of Courage" award.
Here are some of the highlights of the U.S. House of Representatives under the Control of the Republicans since 2022:
Twenty bills have passed the Congress as compared to approximately 70 bills per year.
It took the Republicans 15 votes to elect a Speaker that they then removed from office by one vote.
A GOP Congressman, George Santos was elected in 2022, and then was turned out of office by his own party for fraud.
The GOP voted articles of impeachment twice passing by 2 votes, all Republican. The Senate Republicans would not consider the vote.
The GOP leadership seeks no support from the minority party for bi-partisan lawmaking.
A large portion of the House GOP does not support Ukraine, NATO and addressing immigration in deference to former President Donald Trump.
A large portion of the House GOP supports Vladimir Putin and Russia in deference to former President Donald Trump.
The sad state of the House of Representatives reflects the pathetic deterioration of lawmaking skills and experience of the current GOP members. And they are led by Donald Trump, who has no lawmaking experience and has over 91 criminal charges pending against him.
There are promising Republicans available to serve--Senator Mitt Romney, Senator Bill Cohen, Rep. Lynn Chaney, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, and Rep. Dave Jolley, among many others. But they need help.