117th Congress

The US Senate Majority Is Up For Grabs In 2022!

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The US Senate has had 1,994 members since 1789, and there have been great Senators, mediocre Senators, and wretched, horrible Senators.

One third of the US Senate comes up for election in every even numbered year, so the entire Senate is elected over a six year period.

Right now, 20 Republican seats are up for 2022, compared to 14 Democratic seats.

With a 50-50 Senate, only the fourth time in history that the Senate has been evenly divided, after 1881-1883, 1953-1955, and 2001-2003, it is a crucial time for both parties, wishing to gain a majority of the Senate.

Five Republicans are retiring—Richard Shelby of Alabama; Roy Blunt of Missouri; Richard Burr of North Carolina; Rob Portman of Ohio; and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

Three Republicans have not announced if they will run for reelection in 2022–Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; Ron Johnson of Wisconsin; and John Thune of South Dakota.

Only one Democrat, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, has not yet announced if he will run for reelection in 2022.

Twelve Republican Senators are running for reelection, as compared to 13 Democratic Senators.

The big goals for Democrats is to defeat the following five Republicans:

Marco Rubio of Florida
Rand Paul of Kentucky
Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, if he runs
Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Mike Lee of Utah

Also, the hope is that Democrats can win the seats of retiring Senators as follows:

Roy Blunt of Missouri
Richard Burr of North Carolina
Rob Portman of Ohio
Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania

So now a year before the elections, there is the theoretical possibility of the Democrats gaining up to nine seats, but truly, that is being highly idealistic, and unlikely to occur.

It all comes down to what Democratic seats are in danger, which would seem to include the following:

Mark Kelly of Arizona
Raphael Warnock of Georgia
Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada
Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire

So the odds are in favor of the Democrats in theory, having a chance in nine states, while the Republicans have a chance in four states.

Nancy Pelosi Rejects Jim Jordan And Jim Banks For January 6 House Committee Investigation, And Kevin McCarthy Pulls All Five Appointees!

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It looks as if the January 6 House Committee investigation of the US Capitol Insurrection will only have one patriotic, principled Republican on the committee, Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who already has been stripped of her third ranking position as House Republican Chair by order of House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy!

By McCarthy selecting Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio and Congressman Jim Banks of Indiana, both out to cover up the Insurrection scandal and Donald Trump, to the committee shows McCarthy is not serious, and already, the two earlier Republican leaders, Speaker John Boehner and Speaker Paul Ryan, have condemned his desire to defend Donald Trump and undermine any investigation.

So Speaker Nancy Pelosi is courageous and proper in refusing those two appointees to the House Committee, and McCarthy has withdrawn all five members and refuses to participate on the committee.

This will not work out well for McCarthy, who is a disgraceful leader, only interested in his own advancement to the Speakership in the next Congress.

McCarthy also has the gall to call Pelosi the “lame duck Speaker”, so cocksure of himself that the Republicans will win the House of Representatives in 2022.

No one is smart to bet money on Nancy Pelosi losing the Speakership, although she might decide to retire at the end of the 117th Congress, but that is unknowable at this point!

It is more likely that McCarthy will fail to become Speaker, and might even be rejected by his GOP colleagues even if the party were to win control, and he could also come under indictment for failing to explain his interactions with Donald Trump on January 6, and his fawning obedience to Trump ever since January 6, even though he condemned Trump on January 13, when Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives!

Liz Cheney just defended Nancy Pelosi, and condemned Kevin McCarthy, and kudos to her for that, as she is seriously interested in learning all of the facts and truth about January 6, so it does not happen again!

The Fear If One Democrat In The Senate Is Lost Through Health Issues, Republicans Control The Senate!

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Joe Biden and the Democratic Party hold power in Congress by a “hair”, with an evenly split Senate, and only a few votes margin in the House of Representatives!

So if one Democratic Senator was to be incapacitated or pass away, the Senate would become Republican controlled for the rest of the 117th Congress!

With the Senate being generally older age than ever before, the danger of such a tragedy is multiplied.

So it is essential for Joe Biden to stop trying to deal with the Republicans, who are recalcitrant, and move ahead on his ambitious agenda.

And with Republicans being very unwilling to cooperate or compromise, hopefully Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona might be willing to agree to change the filibuster rule so that action on the Biden agenda can move forward!

The Dozen “Best” Democratic Senators In The 117th Congress in 2021

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Yesterday, the issue of the dozen worst Republican Senators was discussed, so today, let’s look at who this author and blogger thinks are the dozen best Democratic Senators out of the 50 in the 117th Congress.

They are listed in alphabetical order by state:

Chris Murphy of Connecticut

Mazie Hirono of Hawaii

Tammy Duckworth of Illinois

Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts

Ed Markey of Massachusetts

Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota

Cory Booker of New Jersey

Chuck Schumer of New York

Sherrod Brown of Ohio

Ron Wyden of Oregon

Jeff Merkley of Oregon

Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island

Republican Senate Reprehensible In Its Lack Of Compassion For Victims Of COVID 19, And Depression!

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The Republican Party of Donald Trump is demonstrating once again its lack of compassion for victims of COVID 19 and the Second Great Depression which has developed as a result of Trump’s refusal to take action early, and be consistent on promoting patriotism and sacrifice on the part of the American people!

The Republican Senate majority has resisted any substantial federal aid, and there are plenty of villains in this matter, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky; Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin; Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky; Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania; Senator Ted Cruz of Texas; Senator Mike Lee of Utah; Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas; and others.

Hopefully, the two runoffs in Georgia will lead to two Democrats, and the ability of the Joe Biden Administration to have control of both houses of Congress in the 117th Congress of 2021-2022!

Trump Conspiracy Theory About The Election Might Cause The Loss Of Republican Senate Control

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A full month after the Presidential Election of 2020, Donald Trump refuses to concede, and is promoting conspiracy theories, which include Republican officials in many states, including Georgia, working to undermine his case.

Trump is clearly totally off the wall, and his supporters are now saying they cannot trust Georgia state government officials, and that therefore, Republicans should not vote in the upcoming Georgia Senate runoffs on January 5.

If Republican voters in Georgia follow this crazy advice, then Jon Ossoff will defeat David Purdue, and Raphael Warnock will defeat Kelly Loeffler, turning both Georgia Senate seats “Blue”, and making for a Democratic controlled Senate in the 117th Congress that begins in January.

So let us hope this happens, as it will give President Elect Joe Biden a free reign in promoting his program if Democrats control both houses of Congress, so this would be all for the best!

“Socialism” And “Defund The Police” Killed Democratic House Numbers, Endangering Majority In 2022

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The Democratic Party needs to realize that if it goes too far to the Left, it will doom President Joe Biden’s efforts for success!

Unfortunately, the Congressional Elections of 2020 demonstrated that the nation is still very split on what is desirable to accomplish, as the Republican opposition and Donald Trump utilized fear of the word “Socialism”, as if Joe Biden and the Democrats are equivalent of Communist leaders in Cuba, China, the Russian Federation, and other left wing regimes, such as Venezuela and Nicaragua!

This shows total ignorance of the term “Socialism”, and the reality that America is a mixed Capitalist-Socialist nation, with the Socialist party of Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas in the first half of the 20th century contributing many ideas, which over time, were part of the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson, and many other progressive reform since then.

But it is clear that had Bernie Sanders somehow been the Democratic nominee for President, he would NOT have been able to win, as only a moderate centrist with a tip to the Left, as Joe Biden has been his whole life, could possibly have won back the Midwest states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, along with the Sun Belt states of Georgia and Arizona, and not lose any of the 20 states that Hillary Clinton won in 2016.

Also, while there have been too many outrageous examples of police abuse and brutality, and particularly against African American males and Latino males, and really even females, the answer is police reform and accountability, not “Defund the Police”, as they are still essential.

Sadly, the Senate only saw two Democrats elected (Mark Kelly, John Hickenlooper), while one (Doug Jones) was defeated, gaining only one seat, to 48, although Georgia creates an opportunity in its runoff election for the chance to have a 50-50 Senate, that Vice President Kamala Harris could organize as a Democratic Senate, with Chuck Schumer as Senate Majority Leader, instead of the horrible Mitch McConnell.

But there is danger of the House of Representatives, in a midterm election, going back to the Republicans, since they have gained at least 5-7 seats in the 117th Congress, and with the reality, that the party in the White House usually loses seats in the following midterm election.

The Senate will have, again, twice as many Republican seats up for election in 2022, but this scenario did not work out in 2020, so no assurance there either of retaining or gaining a Democratic Senate majority, which is so urgent to make Joe Biden a successful President!

QAnon Conspiracy Theory Overtaking Republican Party, With Victory Of Marjorie Taylor Greene

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There is an element of totally crazy conspiracy people, known as the QAnon believers, which advocate a supposed secret plot by an alleged “deep state” against President Donald Trump and his supporters.

QAnon has accused many liberal Hollywood actors, Democratic politicians, and high ranking public officials of being members of an international child sex trafficking ring. They claimed that Hillary Clinton was part of the child sex trafficking ring, and that Barack Obama and George Soros were connected to a great conspiracy against Donald Trump, who is portrayed as being totally innocent of any charges against him.

The FBI has said that QAnon is a likely domestic terrorist group, and Twitter has banned it from its platforms.

QAnon has promoted antisemitism, racism, nativism, and arguments that only Donald Trump can save the nation, making him out to be a demigod.

And now, we will have at least one, possibly more, members of the 117th Congress in 2021, who espouse these theories, but are being elected to the House of Representatives in 2020, and will have a platform to espouse their crazy, hateful rhetoric.

One such person is the future new Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was repudiated by Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, until she won the nomination this past week, and has now been embraced by both McCarthy and by President Donald Trump.

Greene spews racist, nativist, islamophobic, and antisemitic utterances, and refers to “Satan worshipping pedophiles'”, who are out to bring Donald Trump down, and also brandishes a rifle, and promotes all kinds of lunatic conspiracy theories in a reckless manner.

She makes crazies like Louie Gohmert of Texas, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Matt Gaetz of Florida, and Devin Nunes of California appear, by comparison to her, to be “moderates”!

QAnon has spread like wildfire on Facebook groups, and is seen by some as a religious cult, with no interest in fact checking or any sense of accuracy. Greene will become a total nightmare for a party which already is too much oriented toward extremist right wing fringe elements.

The House Of Representatives Likely To Be More “Blue” In 117th Congress

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Six months out, it seems highly likely that the House of Representatives, which turned Democratic in the 2018 midterm elections, will be more heavily “Blue”.

The present House balance is 233 Democrats to 196 Republicans, and Independent Justin Amash of Michigan, who left the Republican Party in 2019, and voted for the impeachment of Donald Trump.

There are, presently, six vacant House seats, but four of them being filled soon, and the likelihood is that the two Democratic seats and two Republican seats will remain the same. Two other Republican seats have a vacancy that will not be filled until the November 2020 election.

But if one counts all six vacant House seats, the real balance is 235 Democrats and 200 Republicans, as Justin Amash is leaving Congress as the only Libertarian member. So effectively, the balance is what it was after Election Day in November 2018. Republicans would need a net gain of 18 seats to come back to the majority, and no polls show that happening.

More women and minorities were elected as Democrats than ever before in the House of Representatives, while the Republicans remain mostly white men.

There were big gains, a total of 41 new members of the Democratic majority, and California, the largest delegation, dropped to only 7 Republicans.

The Democrats had their biggest victory since 1974, and won the popular vote by 8.6 percent, an all time high for a party that had been in the minority previously. More than half the population voted, the highest percentage in a midterm election since 1914.

Besides California’s loss of 7 Republican seat, the following states lost multiple GOP seats:

Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Texas–2 seats each

New York, Virginia–3 seats each

New Jersey, Pennsylvania–4 seats each

21 states, altogether, lost 42 Republican seats, and it now seems likely that Democrats will gain more seats in Florida, Illinois, Texas, New York, Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, with the estimate being at least 10 more seats, leading to a possible majority as high as 245-190, after a few likely Republican gains.

Time For John Hickenlooper, Steve Bullock, And Beto O’Rourke To Give Up Presidential Candidacies, And Run To Help Create Democratic Senate Majority In 117th Congress!

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It is time for three Presidential contenders to give up their candidacies and run instead for the US Senate in their states, and help create a Democratic Senate majority for the 117th Congress of 2021-2022.

Former Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado; Montana Governor Steve Bullock; and former Texas Congressman from El Paso, Beto O’Rourke, have no real opportunity to continue further, although O’Rourke has qualified for the third Democratic debate in Houston in September. Despite that, and his courageous and outstanding reaction to the El Paso Massacre, it is clear that he is NOT going to progress any further to the top tier of candidates.

Bullock is fascinating, and did well in the second Presidential debate, but he came in too late, and has no traction, despite his being quite impressive.

And Hickenlooper, well, he is a massive dud, and apparently is leaving the race later today.

All three would be wonderful Senators, and the Democrats need a minimum gain of four seats, or three, if the Vice President in the next term is a Democrat, and can organize the Senate majority.

If the Democrats win the Presidency, but fail to win the Senate majority, then nothing will be accomplished, as Mitch McConnell or his successor as Senate Majority Leader, will bottleneck any agenda of any Democrat, whether it be Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, or Pete Buttigieg, the most likely choices at this point to be serious contenders for the Democratic nomination for President.