WASHINGTON—The House’s ruling Republicans, in their endless battles over whom to nominate for Speaker, have become the political equivalent of The Bronx Zoo.
If you’re a baseball fan, you remember that book. It was relief pitcher Sparky Lyle’s description of his dysfunctional team, the 1970s New York Yankees.
The team where manager Billy Martin—an alcoholic—said of his superstar, Reggie Jackson, and team owner George Steinbrenner, “One’s a born liar and the other’s convicted.” Steinbrenner, found guilty of illegal corporate campaign contributions to Richard Nixon, fired, and rehired, Martin at least four times.
At least those Yankees, dysfunctional or not, won. Not these Republicans.
Their latest try was with incumbent House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. He led on all ballots, steadily eliminating six competitors, all of them right-wingers in way, shape, and form. But he had made one major mistake which sunk his candidacy: Emmer had voted to certify Joe Biden’s election to the presidency, one of the few House Republicans to do so in the Trumpite invasion-disrupted balloting of Jan. 6, 2021.
And that made enough Trumpite Republicans mad enough to tank his try. In a secret vote after his formal nomination, to see how close—or how far—he was from the 217 Republicans he needed to become Speaker, 26 voted “no” or for someone else.
Emmer could afford to lose only four of the House’s 221 Republicans. So he dropped out, in a day.
Emmer’s electoral stance also unleashed Trump’s invective on Truth Social. The kindest words Trump had for Emmer was that he’s a RINO—a Republican in name only. Trump even tossed out a name for a potential Speaker: Jesus Christ.
Speculation turned to the other hopefuls whom Emmer beat, as Republicans met in yet another late-night closed-door session to try to find yet another candidate for Speaker. If you’re counting, he—they’re all men, so far—would be #5.
Just like those old Yankee baseball teams, you can’t tell the players without a scorecard. But they all wear the same radical right uniform. Meanwhile, the minority—the 212 Democrats—will sit by and unanimously vote for their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., every time.
The others Emmer beat who are now reportedly back in the race: Reps. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Jack Bergman of Michigan, a retired Marine Lieutenant General, and Gary Palmer of Alabama.
Joining them are the others who lost preliminary votes: Kevin Donalds of Florida, the youngest (44) with the least service (his third year), who is Black, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Austin Scott of Georgia—whose last-minute draw of 81 votes sunk the prior bid of Jan. 6, 2021, virtual Trump conspirator Jim Jordan of Ohio—and Pete Sessions of Texas.
And that’s not including Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the weak Speaker the inhabitants of the Bronx Zoo threw off the speaker mound three weeks ago. Ejecting McCarthy brought the House to a dead halt, unable to consider legislation, be it Democratic President Joe Biden’s plan for more than $100 billion in military aid to Israel and the Ukraine combined, or yet another looming federal shutdown, on Nov. 17, or anything else.
Other than his ballot to seat Biden, Emmer was a down-the-line right-winger, and not just on Capitol Hill. Workers in Minnesota know about that.
When Emmer was in the state legislature, he opposed raising the tipped minimum wage for workers to the level of the national minimum wage, $7.25 an hour.
He wanted to count tips towards the minimum wage requirement, Ballotpedia reports. That’s what the federal tipped minimum wage law allows—and the federal tipped minimum is $2.13 an hour. It hasn’t been raised in at least 30 years.
What was Emmer’s reason? “With the tips that they get to take home, there are some people earning over $100,000 a year. More than the very people providing the jobs and investing not only their life savings but their families’ future.”
He remained no friend of workers once he got to Congress. Emmer’s 2022 AFL-CIO scorecard shows him agreeing with the labor federation’s stand on 15% of key votes. That’s slightly below his lifetime score of 21% since entering the House in 2015.
Ballotpedia reports his key congressional votes opposed everything from the bipartisan infrastructure law to voting rights to expanding social programs to $1400 checks in federal aid to workers who didn’t qualify for regular jobless benefits during the coronavirus pandemic, gun control (twice) and much more. He even opposed letting Medicare negotiate drug prices down with Big Pharma.
Just like the Republicans remaining in the race. Like we said, The Bronx Zoo.
We hope you appreciated this article. At People’s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading People’s World and the stories we bring you, please support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today. Thank you!
CONTRIBUTOR
Comments