First Votes Of the 116th Congress

First came the vote for Speaker. Pelosi, the lesser evil got 220 votes and Kevin McCarthy, the greater evil not 192 votes. That leaves 22 members of Congress who voted for neither. A man who can't wait to prove he's the biggest moron in the new Congress, aggressively reactionary Blue Dog Jeff Van Drew (NJ), shouted out "NO," which doesn't mean anything in this instance. But I'm sure it felt good and will get him some points from his benefactors at the NRA. Eventually the House Clerk counted Van Drew as a "Present" like two other dips hits, Jim Cooper, the Nashville Blue Dog, and Michigan New Dem Elissa Slotkin, off to a short, brutish congressional career.

But the biggest number of protest votes went to the Nazi Party candidate, Jim Jordan of the infamous Ohio bund. Who found McCarthy not right-wing enough? Herr Biggs (AZ), Herr Gosar (AZ), Herr Hice (GA), Herr Perry (PA) und Herr Massie (KY). Blue Dog Cheri Bustos came in next with 4 votes, two from the two worst freshmen in the class, racist Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA) and Wall Street's top new congressional puppet Mikie Sherrill (Blue Dog-NJ). They were joined by 2 other freshmen, Joe Cunningham (D-SC) and Jared Golden (D-ME). Two other putrid freshmen, Jason Crow (New Dem-CO) and Staten Island's Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY), voted for Senator Tammy Heidi-- lame military connection.

Libertarian Justin Amash (R-MI) voted for Herr Massie. NRA-delegate Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY) voted for someone whose record of destroying working families he no doubt hopes to emulate, Joe Biden. Wall Street's Ron Kind (New Dem-WI) voted for John Lewis. Another very right-wing Democrat (and political coward), Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania, voted for some Kennedy. Utah crackpot wing-nut Ben McAdams voted for a Murphy, presumably the corrupt and lazy New Dem chair, Stephanie Murphy. Worthless Blue Dog Kurt Schrader (OR) must think he proved he's not a racist by voting for Marcia Fudge. Turd-ball Kathleen Rice, who's being primaried in 2020, went him one better by voting for Stacey Abrams after she was told it wasn't good form to vote for herself. Walter Jones (R-NC) was smart enough to avoid the whole scene entirely.

And then came the first substantive vote for all these new freshmen-- the rules package with Pelosi's potentially-catastrophic Pay-Go in it. It passed 234-197, appearing like a standard party-line vote. But not quite. Three "Problem Solver" Republicans-- Tom Reed (NY), John Katko (NY) and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA) voted with the Democrats-- but, more importantly, three Democrats had the guts and heart and dignity to oppose it... despite a barrage of lies from Hoyer claiming it is somehow a "progressive" rule. The three Democrats who did us proud last night:

• Ro Khanna (D-CA)
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
• Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)

One last thing about this. When I was talking to members for the last few days, begging them to think twice before voting for PAY-GO, they mostly poo-poo-ed my concerns, telling me that Hoyer's team had assured them it didn't matter and that it was a minor thing. Really? Minor? Is that why Pelosi included it in the three top things she wanted to get done in 2019, along with healthcare? I have a feeling this is going to be a very disappointing Congress.