The House of Commons has just 17 days to dissolve and will be renewed in January with a likely majority of the Republican Party
No one expected that a week after the midterm elections, control of Congress would be up in the air, but it has. The traditional stage of the lame duck is even more precarious this year, in the face of a divided Solomonic Congress in which no party can boast a majority of the people but the minimum.
That could condemn the United States to ungovernability, especially if the House is left in the hands of the Republican Party, when the Senate already has the Democrats under control after this weekend’s victories in Nevada and Arizona. The Democratic Party has exactly 17 days left to enjoy the meager majority in both chambers that President Joe Biden has had for the past two years.
Lawmakers returned to work on Monday after a month-and-a-half break during which they focused on campaigning. For some, it is not only the end of their legislature, it is also the end of a phase, as not everyone will take seats again in January. On their heads they brought the letter of the Three Wise Men, those things for which they want to be remembered and complete their legacy. Among them is a law to define the vice president’s role in certifying the election results, preventing presidents like Donald Trump from trying to convince his deputy to abort the election results.
That’s what happened when some of his advisers convinced Trump that Mike Pence was his last chance to stay in the White House. The Enhanced Presidential Transitional Act and Voter Reform Act will reinforce the 1887 original by limiting the largely ceremonial role of the vice president and raising the bar for contesting results. It is a bill that strengthens democracy and has the bipartisan support of Senate Democratic and Republican leaders Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell. Both retain their positions in the 117th Congress due to be sworn in in January, but McConnell is already facing some challenges within his own party.
Another bipartisan initiative destined to last in memory and history is the one that would enact federal recognition of same-sex marriage that the Supreme Court gave the green light in 2015. In June, the most conservative bench judge, Clarence Thomas, in his ruling to revoke abortion protections in June, expressly provided that same-sex marriages may follow the same fate. “We have a duty to correct the error established by those precedents,” he wrote.
If the Supreme Court, with members for life, makes good on its threat, more than a million couples who have legally formed a joint household in the past seven years could see their lives and families in limbo. That responsibility would weigh on the legacy of those who did nothing to protect them and could take a toll on the polls.
The House of Representatives already passed the law in September, but Republicans asked the Democratic leader in the Senate for time to gain the support of a dozen conservatives who are willing to sign. The version of the Senate will have to be reconciled with that of the House of Representatives, which now has more moderate deputies than expected as of January.
Defending democracy and fundamental rights are undoubtedly noble tasks, but President Biden’s primary concern is to ensure the solvency of the federal government. The financing of that was resolved in September with a temporary patch that expires on December 16. Democrats want more money to fight the pandemic and continue the investigation into the January 6 uprising. It is also time to pass a new Defense Law that, among other things, guarantees more military aid to Ukraine. One of the few issues where there was unity has become controversial as war-weariness and inflationary pain mount at home.
It is a matter, and they all agree, to be more pragmatic than idealistic. With the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in between, it’s a race against time for lack and can’t before they lose power.
“Who do you think my vice president should be?” Donald Trump’s question yesterday, in one of the massive emails he now uses to harass his supporters to raise money, was also a reminder of the former president’s maxim: never a step back, never an apology.
Criticism within the Republican Party, which now blames its deniers for last week’s poor election results, appears to have had no bearing on his decision to announce his upcoming presidential campaign tonight. It will happen in Spain in the wee hours of Wednesday, “prime time” on the American television network, how the tycoon who broke audience records with the reality show “The Apprentice” likes it. The stage becomes his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, with incendiary and apocalyptic speeches that allow him to present himself as the savior of the land.
In reality, he is trying to save himself. Trump feels criminal charges are imminent for attempting to corrupt the election results that defeated him in 2020 and believes the best way to protect himself is to dress in political immunity. In doing so, he warms up his bases and can accuse the Justice Department of becoming President Biden’s political weapon to stop him.
It’s exactly what he did from power. As Gen. John Kelly told the New York Times, the president, while serving as White House chief of staff, tried to open revenge investigations against those he considered his political enemies. At least two of them, former FBI director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe, saw the Treasury’s clutches fall on them.
Kelly claims she managed to dissuade him every time he called for a vendetta, coinciding with reports negative for him. His argument is that this was “potentially illegal” and immoral, so it could be turned against him. His presidential rival, Hillary Clinton; Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos; former CIA director John Brennan and several FBI agents who testified against him in the Russian investigation were targeted.
Source: La Verdad
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