Trump's $6 Billion Gift to Iran Goes A Long Way to Killing Women and Children

[The Fascist Right]

Far right fascist traitors in congress have stopped aid for Israel and
Ukraine because they hate America and support our enemies.


Congress is in shambles and failing America when it needs it to function
most
Analysis by Madison Hall
Oct 11, 2023, 3:29 PM EDT


The United States Congress is tragically failing when the world — not just
the country — needs it to function most.

The Senate's top foreign policy leader stepped down amid a wave of felony
allegations, and the upper chamber can't advance so much as a military
promotion because of one senator's pique. The House is leaderless, in
chaos, and whoever takes the mantle of speaker will serve at the pleasure
of the most extreme faction in the chamber.

It's gridlock at the moment when two allies are in desperate need of
support.
The House is ungovernable

On October 2, just under nine months after Rep. Kevin McCarthy made
concessions to far-right House members to attain the speakership by making
it easier for any one member to begin the process of removing a speaker, a
single member took advantage of the rule change.
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Eight Republicans and the entirety of the Democratic Caucus ultimately
banded together to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy from being speaker — it
couldn't have happened at a worse time.

After a war broke out war in the Middle East between Israeli troops and
Hamas forces over the weekend, there's a high demand from Israel for US
financial and military assistance. While President Joe Biden said on
Tuesday that some aid has already been sent, sending more will likely
depend on the cooperation of Congress.

The war in Israel isn't even the only overseas fight that Congress has
been tasked with subsidizing: Ukrainian and Russian troops are still
locked in heated combat, despite the US having already sent close to $113
billion to assist Ukraine in fending off Russian military advancements.

Even if congressional leaders have any desire to dole out additional aid
to Ukraine or fund the Israeli military's counter-operations against Hamas
forces, without a speaker of the House, there's currently no way for the
House of Representatives to even begin the bureaucratic legislative
process to dole out any requested aid.
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The Republican Party in the House has been deadlocked for days over which
member to replace McCarthy as speaker, with most coalescing to support one
of two candidates: Rep. Steve Scalise or Rep. Jim Jordan. Republicans hold
such a slim majority in the House that, while they only need a simple
majority to elect a new speaker, just a few out-of-line members make it
difficult to quickly come to a conclusion.

To make things even more complicated, just as House Republicans most need
to come together to find a new speaker, one of the caucus' members, Rep.
George Santos, was just indicted in New York and charged with fraud and
identity theft.

If Santos resigns, which he hasn't shown any indication of doing, it would
leave Republicans with an even slimmer majority and make it even more
difficult for the party to legislate.

On top of being unable to push through any legislation to fund wars in
Ukraine and the Middle East, without a speaker, the House also can't even
work right now on vital appropriations bills to keep the US government
funded at all. Warring GOP factions in the House very nearly led to the
government shutting down at the end of September. The continuing
resolution brokered by McCarthy to keep the lights on directly led Rep.
Matt Gaetz to begin the process of ousting the former speaker.
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Even when the House of Representatives had a full-fledged speaker prior to
McCarthy's boot, many of the GOP members appeared more focused and intent
on trying to move forward an impeachment against Biden than ensuring
millions of government workers (including those in the military) continue
to get paid and the government remains operational.
Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) looks on during a campaign rally at Minden-Tahoe
Airport

Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) looks on during a campaign rally at Minden-Tahoe
Airport Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
The House is Congress' disaster right now, but the Senate's giving it a
run for its money

With two major international conflicts that Congress is now being tasked
with supporting and chaos in the House, it's critical that the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee operates as seamlessly as possible to fill the
multitude of ambassador vacancies — at the moment, several Middle Eastern
countries such as Israel, Oman, and Kuwait do not have US ambassadors.

That, however, may not be entirely possible at the moment after Democratic
committee Chairman Sen. Bob Menendez was indicted by a federal grand jury
and accused of bribery. More than thirty Democratic senators have since
called on him to resign, though he's maintained he's innocent.

Additionally, in the Senate, GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville has unilaterally
prevented more than 300 military service members from being promoted en
masse by the Senate, per tradition, due to his frustration over the
Pentagon's decision to reimburse service members who travel out of state
for abortion-related services.
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Tuberville, a former college football coach who has no military experience
himself but said "there is nobody more military than me," has directly led
to military leadership vacancies in the Middle East and some officers
simultaneously staffing multiple positions (some as interim replacements)
at once.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer could, in theory, file a cloture
motion leading to a direct vote on a singular military promotion as the
Senate did in late September. However, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin is
currently out of commission recovering from a knee replacement, meaning
there's one less possible Democratic vote on any contentious votes.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz has also personally had a hand in slowing down
the Biden Administration's effort to fill the State Department's
"Coordinator for Counterterrorism" position, having blocked a nominee in
June, accusing her of wrongdoing during her time as ambassador to Lebanon.

Cruz isn't the only one. Politico noted on Wednesday that there are
several unnamed senators who are also blocking diplomatic nominees from
moving forward.
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It ultimately appears like the Biden White House, an institution more
known in recent weeks for dog bites rather than diplomacy, is the only
functioning branch of government at the moment.

But with Biden also distracted with a presidential reelection campaign,
possible impeachment proceedings, and his son embroiled in controversy,
long-term stability is no guarantee.