118th Congress (2023-2025)

Guarantee Of Chaotic 119th Congress!

Ronald 1 Comment

The 119th Congress (2025-2027) is guaranteed to be chaotic, and might be worse in performance than the 118th Congress (2023-2025).

With the final count having finally been settled in the House of Representatives, there will be a total of 220 Republicans and 215 Democrats, but since Matt Gaetz resigned, and Michael Waltz of Florida will be National Security Adviser, and Elise Stefanik of New York will be United Nations Ambassador, the actual balance for the first few months of the new year will be 217-215, until special elections fill those three seats.

This means any one Republican abandonment, or members absent for votes, and chaos will reign, and Democrats may gain the majority on some issues, and even, if there is opposition to the Speaker by a few Republicans, could lead to new elections for the House leadership.

Also, while the Senate now has 53 Republicans, there is a high likelihood that at least four or more Republican Senators will reject a number of Donald Trump’s Cabinet appointments.

The 118th Congress was reckless and chaotic enough, but now there will be fewer Republicans than in the last Congress in the lower chamber, and some Senators will be unwilling to bow to Donald Trump on some of his outrageous nominees for the Cabinet, and other actions by the 47th President when he takes the oath of office!

Some Reasons Why Donald Trump And Republicans Will Lose in 2024

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Despite conflicting public opinion polls, there are many reasons to believe why Donald Trump and the Republican Party are on the road to defeat in 2024!

Among them are the following:

If one uses Ronald Reagan’s argument in 1980, “Are you better off than you were years ago?”, and use it in reverse, most certainly, economically, the nation is far better than it was in 2020, by any economic statistic! The stock market is booming; unemployment is at a 50 year low; inflation is coming down; and more jobs have been created than under any modern President in a four year term!

Also, Donald Trump brags about ending Roe V Wade, and this ending of abortion rights has become a major motivator among the vast majority of women and the men who love them, and will motivate many voters to be sure to vote and get others to vote!

Donald Trump also tells Republicans to reject the strongest immigration bill in a generation, and the crisis on the border is worse, as a result, and it will reverberate on Republicans in the Fall. With various conservative groups backing the legislation, it can be used as a weapon against Trump in the upcoming election, and harm the party chances in Congress!

The Republican House of Representatives has been a disaster, leading to some Republicans quitting early, not wishing to hang around, and leaving the Republicans with just one vote more than a majority, subject to change at any time, if anyone in their slim majority resigns, dies, or is in the hospital for an extended period. And Speaker Mike Johnson is in danger of being the second Speaker to be removed in the same Congress. So the Democrats have a great issue as they get ready for the election, which should guarantee a Democratic majority in that chamber in the upcoming 119th Congress of 2025-2027!

Donald Trump being indicted on 91 counts in four cases is not going to help promote loyalty of Republicans, as already, there are indications that a substantial number did not want him to run, and instead supported Nikki Haley. The idea that independents or Democrats will vote for Trump is not realistic, and already, he has a record of never winning the popular vote in either 2016 or 2020!

With so many former Trump Administration officials refusing to support Trump this time around, since they see how dangerous he is on foreign policy, and his plans for a dictatorship, this will also strengthen the case for Joe Biden as a center of stability and democracy!

And with Trump saying the January 6 Insurrectionists are “hostages” that he would free from prison is not a way to win support or strengthen Republican prospects!

With all these factors, Democrats have the advantage, but have to be concerned about keeping support of African Americans, Hispanic-Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Arab-Muslim Americans, Jewish Americans, and the younger Generation Z first time voters.

So there is plenty of work still ahead!

Republican 118th House Of Representatives A Total Disaster!

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The 118th Congress (2023-2025) has been a total disaster, with the House of Representatives controlled by the extremist right wing Freedom Caucus, which deposed Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, and now is moving toward deposing Mike Johnson, because of his cooperation with Democrats to adopt a budget bill and avoid default. Looney Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has taken the first steps to call for possible removal of Johnson from the Speakership.

This chaos has led some Republicans to quit the House of Representatives early including Ken Buck of Colorado and Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin.

So now, once Gallagher leaves in April, the split will be 217-213 in the House, meaning the Republicans only have a ONE vote margin!

So any further craziness, and the Democrats will gain control of the House of Representatives, an unbelievable situation!

The Ten Best And Ten Worst US Senators In The 118th Congress

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Creating a list of the ten best and ten worst US Senators in the 118th Congress is based on their viewpoints and utterances over their careers.

Of course, it is subjective in nature, but based on careful consideration and analysis.

The rankings below are not in numbered order, but simply the Senators considered by the author to be the best and the worst in the upper chamber of Congress.

TEN BEST US SENATORS

Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)
Chris Murphy (Connecticut)
Jon Ossoff (Georgia)
Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts)
Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota)
Cory Booker (New Jersey)
Sherrod Brown (Ohio)
Jeff Merkley (Oregon)
Ron Wyden (Oregon)
Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island)

TEN WORST US SENATORS

Tommy Tuberville (Alabama)
Tom Cotton (Arkansas)
Rick Scott (Florida)
Rand Paul (Kentucky)
Josh Hawley (Missouri)
JD Vance (Ohio)
Lindsey Graham (South Carolina)
Ted Cruz (Texas)
Mike Lee (Utah)
Ron Johnson (Wisconsin)

If one was asked which five Senators were the “best” and the “worst”, this author and blogger would say the following:

BEST—Chris Murphy, Jon Osoff, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Sheldon Whitehouse

WORST—Tommy Tuberville, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson

Republican House Majority In 118th Congress A Total Disaster, On Its Way To Defeat In November!

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The Republican House majority in the 118th Congress is a total disaster, and has managed to produce the fewest legislative actions of any Congress going back a century and more!

Their move to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the first sitting cabinet officer to be so impeached, is a purely political disaster, as it comes after they have agreed not to consider a border security bill, due to the intervention of Donald Trump, who wants to use immigration as a campaign issue for the upcoming Presidential and Congressional Elections of 2024, nine months from now!

It is stunning that every one of the 17 Biden District Republicans went along with the impeachment, which will go nowhere in the Senate, and that even the so called “moderate” Republicans, led by Don Bacon of Nebraska and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, went along, causing a total loss of respect and common decency.

It is clear that there has to be total attack on all House Republicans, as well as all but a small handful of Republican Senators, and the goal must be to end the control of Congress by a party that has no principles, other than to obey and follow a Fascist, authoritarian, Donald Trump, who supports a Russian invasion of our NATO allies!

The 80th Congress (1947-1949) Vs. The 118th Congress (2023- )

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It has often been claimed that the 80th Congress (1947-1949) under President Harry Truman was unproductive, or as Truman claimed it in his 1948 Presidential campaign, a “Do Nothing” Congress.

While it is true that the Republican dominated 80th Congress worked against Democratic President Truman and his “Fair Deal” proposals, most notably passing the anti Labor Taft-Hartley Act over the President’s veto, in reality a lot was accomplished in that Congress.

The following actions were accomplished:

The Truman Doctrine
The Taft-Hartley Act
The Presidential Succession Act
The National Security Act–including the Defense Department at the Pentagon in Virginia, the National Security Council, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, separate Department of the Air Force, and the Central Intelligence Agency
The Marshall Plan
22nd Amendment to the US Constitution

At the same time, NOTHING significant has been passed into law in the present first session of the 118th Congress, making it the least productive in modern times since the Great Depression 1931-1933 72nd Congress, split between a Democratic House of Representatives and Republican Senate under President Herbert Hoover!

118th Congress Least Productive Since Great Depression 72nd Congress!

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The 118th Congress (2023-2025) is fast becoming the least productive since the 72nd Congress (1931-1933) under President Herbert Hoover at the worst times of the Great Depression.

Both the House of Representatives and US Senate are responsible for such poor performance, but clearly, if the House of Representatives is poorly organized and operated, the Senate cannot make up for it.

Both Congresses had one house Democratic, and one Republican, which also caused stalemate and gridlock.

The fact that the House of Representatives Republican majority has just voted an Impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, with zero evidence of such abuse of power, is a sign of how incompetent and hopeless the 118th Congress is, even with a small Democratic majority in the US Senate.

Clearly, the most productive Congresses have been when one party, in all modern times Democrats, has had a vast advantage in the number of seats in both houses of Congress.

So those most productive Congresses were, chronologically:

63rd Congress (1913-1915) under Woodrow Wilson
73rd Congress (1933-1935) under Franklin D. Roosevelt
74th Congress (1935-1937) under Franklin D. Roosevelt
89th Congress (1965-1967) under Lyndon B. Johnson
111th Congress (2009-2011) under Barack Obama

The most productive of all were the 73rd Congress under FDR, and the 89th Congress under LBJ.

Time For Bipartisanship To Keep Federal Government Operating

Ronald 1 Comment

The Republican controlled House of Representatives is proving its inability to operate the federal government, and holding Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy hostage.

With only a five seat edge (222 Republican and 213 Democrats), the time has come for the small band of moderate, mainstream conservative Republicans to “cross the aisle” and work with Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and take action this week to keep the government operating, and avoid the financial crisis and the mass damage that would do.

The extremist small band group of Republicans must be neutralized, and Republican members of the bipartisan “Problem Solvers Caucus” have the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to stability and cooperation.

Officially, the Problem Solvers Caucus consists of 63 members of the 118th Congress, including 32 Democrats and 31 Republicans.

Among the Republicans seen as most engaged in promoting cooperation are :

Don Bacon of Nebraska
Anthony D’Esposito of New York
Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania
Andrew Garbarino of New York
Dusty Johnson of South Dakota
Thomas Kean Jr of New Jersey
Young Kim of California
Nick Lalota of New York
Mike Lawler of New York
Nancy Mace of South Carolina
Marc Molinaro of New York
David Valadao of California

If 6-10 of these or other Republicans work with the 213 Democrats, the government will avoid shutdown, and the mood is developing to have such cooperation, so let’s hope such a situation transpires.

Kevin McCarthy, as horrible as he is, would be likely to stay on as Speaker, but the Republican control of the House of Representatives, as fragile as it is, is likely to evaporate in 2024.

The New York members of the Republican group, including those mentioned above, are representing Biden won districts, and they are working to survive and keep their seats, which will be a tall order. The present Congress includes 18 Republicans who won districts Biden won in 2020, so a major challenge for those Republicans.

Republicans Refuse To Deal With Climate Change, Despite Heat Records Being Set!

Ronald 1 Comment

The nation and the world are facing the greatest Global Warming and Climate Change crisis yet, with the entire globe having the hottest week and month in recorded history!

This is causing fires in Canada; floods in New England; horrendous triple digit temperatures in much of the Southern and Western states; and equally alarming conditions in Europe and the rest of the world at large!

But any thought of limiting oil and gas and coal production; and taking any action to promote alternative energy policies is receiving deaf ears from Republicans in Congress, and right wing conservatives have no concern about the health dangers to millions of Americans, and will not cooperate on any joint action with Democrats.

If nations worldwide, and the nation from within cannot accept the need for extreme actions, then the whole planet, and American national security is facing an existential threat!

The Way To A Democratic House Of Representatives Majority In The 119th Congress!

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With the Democratic Party only needing to gain a minimum of five seats in the House of Representatives in the Congressional Elections of 2024, some key points to make.

California, Florida and New York, three of the four largest Congressional delegations due to their large populations, have Republican members who won in 2022, but represent districts won by Joe Biden in 2020.

Partisan gerrymandering in both New York and Florida also were the key to Republicans winning a small majority of five seats, which has upended so much in the 118th Congress.

Now, with the Supreme Court backing a challenge to an Alabama reapportionment that denied African Americans fair representation, there is also a good chance of gaining a seat in that state, plus the possibility of the same gains in Texas, Florida, and a few other states that have undermined black or Latino representation based on their proportion of state populations.

With the 118th Congress unable to accomplish much under Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the odds are growing that the Democrats will win back control of the House, and by more than just a bare margin.

A major Joe Biden victory against Donald Trump and other MAGA Republicans could produce a second term of major movement forward, both in Congress and the White House!