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OCTOBER 24, 2023
On the Prospect website
* David Dayen on the Republican tradition of knifing fellow Republicans
* Bob Kuttner on how corporations embrace DEI while continuing to bilk
and exploit
the
American people
* Dayen on Bernie Sanders's call to investigate a possible
revolving-door scandal
at the National Institutes of Health
Meyerson on TAP
Why Are House Republicans Still Being Paid With Your Tax Dollars?
When government shuts down, federal employees aren't paid. When
Republicans shut down Congress, they still collect their checks.
As I write, House Republicans have chosen yet another candidate for
House Speaker, even as the selfsame House Republicans oil the guillotine
that will chop off his head. As in Paris of 1794 or Moscow of 1936, the
public execution of leaders has become a regular spectacle that defines
today's Republicans just as much as the show trials defined the
Stalinists and the Terror defined Robespierre and his followers.
Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer is the latest Republican lamb to the slaughter,
having narrowly prevailed over Louisiana's Mike Johnson in the
party's caucus today by a 117-97 vote. When his nomination comes to
the floor, which could happen as early as this afternoon, it's
unlikely he can command the near-unanimity of support from his fellow
GOPniks that he needs to become Speaker. As my colleague David Dayen has
noted, Republicans have a long tradition of "ratfucking" one another
when their personal lust for power is not accorded due deference. Beyond
that, the House delegation appears to be dividing into two wings: the
Anti-Enlightenment-ists (the routine ultra-right-wingers, commonly
mislabeled as moderates), and the Anti-Reality-ists (those to the
Anti-Enlightenment-ists' right). Not surprisingly, the tribal chief of
the Anti-Reality-ists, Donald Trump, has furiously tweeted (X-ed?)
against Emmer this afternoon for merely being Anti-Enlightenment, and
hence, a "RINO."
What I want to know is, why are these clowns still being paid from the
public till, inasmuch as they clearly refuse to perform the basic duties
of their offices? Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 5 of the Constitution
reads: "The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and
other officers ..." This precedes the powers that the House is
accorded, which are enumerated in Section 8 of the article. But the
wording of that section, which says that the members of Congress "have
the power to," followed by a number of paragraphs saying what those
powers are, basically says these are the powers that the Congress can
exercise if it chooses to. I'm no constitutional scholar, but I
don't think the founders meant that choosing the House Speaker was
something that the House might decide to do. I think they meant that the
House needed to and had to do it.
Whether there's any merit to that argument, there's a more immediate
one that makes the ongoing payment of House Republicans even more
outrageous. Some of those Republicans are certainly going to oppose any
continuing resolution that will fund the government, which, should they
prevail, will shut it down. But a closure isn't contingent on their
prevailing. There's another more likely way they can bring government
to a halt. Should they fail to elect a Speaker by November 17, when the
current funding runs out, the government will shut down due to the
Speaker-less House's inability to convene.
And once the government shuts down, no federal employee will be paid,
and that includes those compelled to keep working due to the essential
nature of their work. But for the last three weeks, and who knows how
much longer, the House has been shut down and yet those who've shut it
continue to be paid.
Which is to say, and not for the first time, the Republicans are giving
the double standard a bad name.
~ HAROLD MEYERSON
Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter
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Republicans Take Knife-Fight Politics to Its Logical Conclusion
The House Speaker mess is an extension of a culture of dirty tricks. BY
DAVID DAYEN
The Corporate Capture of DEI
How America's capitalists sugarcoat reactionary policies with cheap
support for diversity, equity, and inclusion BY ROBERT KUTTNER
Sanders Seeks Investigation of NIH Licensing Practices
The senator wants the inspector general to probe why the NIH licensed a
potentially lucrative cancer drug to an obscure company linked to a
former employee. BY DAVID DAYEN
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