That's a vote that basically says hey, those rioters had a point!
Pretty sick!
Mitch McConnell sized up the stakes of that vote pretty well:
"We cannot simply declare ourselves a national board of elections on steroids. The voters, the courts, and the States have all spoken. They have all spoken. If we overrule them, it would damage our Republic forever."
"Self-government, my colleagues, requires a shared commitment to the truth and a shared respect for the ground rules of our system."
"I will not pretend such a vote would be a harmless
protest gesture while relying on others to do the right thing."
McConnell said that BEFORE rioters vividly illustrated that throwing out the election is not much different than throwing out our entire government and everything our country is supposed to stand for.
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If Congress decides that it was really weird and bad for some of its members to pander to a violent rioting mob then Congress can vote to kick those members out. Doing so is very constitutional. huffpost.com/entry/josh-haw…
Several Democrats have called for Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz to resign. Sherrod Brown said they should be expelled if they won't step down.
Expulsion requires a 2/3 majority vote though.
Dem leaders are preoccupied with impeachment this week.
No magic formula here!
"Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member."
NEWS: States have apparently found a way to pay federal unemployment benefits for the last week of December even though Trump signed the bill after the 26th, start date for the final unemployment benefits week.
Bill text says provisions for an extra $300 and a continuation of gig worker and long-term benefits apply "to weeks of unemployment beginning after December 26, 2020 (or, if later, the date on which such agreement is entered into), and ending on or before March 14, 2021.’’
"Agreement" refers to agreement between state workforce agencies and the US DOL to pay federal benefits.
Per @EvermoreMichele of @NelpNews, states and USDOL have decided that the original CARES Act agreements from earlier this year will suffice.
If the president doesn’t sign the covid relief bill by Saturday, unemployed people will miss out on one of the bill’s 11 weeks of benefits, per UI expert @EvermoreMichele
It’s a fluke of the way benefits are paid weekly and the way the bill has an end date and apparently no provision for a late start.
Republicans like Mitch McConnell acted like it would be harmless to appease the president’s sore loser tantrum for a little while, but here we are with the president having a total meltdown right after McConnell’s belated acknowledgment of the election result.
The big COVID relief bill continues the ban on federal funding for ACORN, an organization that has not existed for years
In 2018 I went and asked Republicans why they keep doing this and they didn't really know. Tom Cole said it's probably just leftover language that staffers keep on copy-and-pasting.
Talked to an unemployed worker who stands to gain a lot from the new relief bill's unemployment provisions, but his PUA claim is on hold
So he's THRILLED about the $600 direct payments, which mean $1,800 for his family, possibly before the end of the year huffpost.com/entry/coronavi…
Important thing about this round of payments is that it's $600 per person -- the adult payment is half what it was in the previous round, but there was no corresponding reduction in the dependent payment, which is actually $100 more than before
He still thinks it's ridiculous that lawmakers had such a hard time finding this money.
“When it comes to wars, they have all the money in the world,” he said.
“we're not negotiating over liability protection. I'll be responsible for putting the final agreement on the floor. And as I said, it will have liability protection in it. So we're not negotiating with the Democrats over that.”