After months of struggling to find agreement on just about anything in a divided Congress, lawmakers are returning to Capitol Hill to try to avert a government shutdown, even as House Republicans consider whether to press forward with an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

A short-term funding measure to keep government offices fully functioning will dominate the September agenda, along with emergency funding for Ukraine, federal disaster funds and the Republican-driven probe into Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings.

Time is running short for Congress to act. The House is scheduled to meet for just 11 days before the government’s fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, leaving little room to maneuver. And the deal-making will play out as two top Republicans, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, deal with health issues.

  • @assassin_aragorn
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    371 year ago

    The Republicans from districts which voted for Biden must be several drinks deep already. Either they buck the party line and become reviled, or they give into the obvious far right bullshit and become reviled. Either way, their careers are done. It’s the sort of unenviable position that’s only possible when you sell your soul to be a Republican.

    Even better, the plurality blames Republicans for the debt ceiling crisis. Leadership is aware that these childish stunts are a net negative for them. Combining a shutdown with a frivolous impeachment is throwing water into an oil fire.

    • blazera
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      401 year ago

      Ive heard false death knells for republicans way too many times over several decades. After Trump, theres no amount of depravity conservative voters arent willing to overlook.

      • @assassin_aragorn
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        11 year ago

        Gotta treat every opportunity like it’s the one that’ll be the death knell. We won’t get to it unless we do.

        • blazera
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          51 year ago

          what part of you treating it like a death knell is going to accomplish anything? What are you doing other than just waiting hoping conservatives learn their lesson this time? Please stop looking to conservatives to fix anything, to amend their ways. No matter the scandal, expect conservative voters to still rally behind their reps to oppose progress. If Trump went into an elementary school and started gunning down kids, expect conservatives to take it as the beginning of their uprising against education and follow suit.

          • @assassin_aragorn
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            41 year ago

            Oh that isn’t what I mean. I don’t expect conservatives to change one bit. By death knell, I mean the end of Republican party in national relevance. Their views are quickly becoming so unpopular that even gerrymandering can’t save them.

            I think for instance if they lose in 2024, the GOP might collapse and fracture. What would come next however, I don’t know. But we’d be rid of fascists and bigots with any real power, hopefully.

            • Cethin
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              11 year ago

              My hope (and I don’t think it’s unfounded) is that the democratic party splits in half. The neoliberals take the democratic party name and moderate/conservative position and a new progressive party is created to their left.

              • @assassin_aragorn
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                21 year ago

                This is my thinking as well actually. It should be put off as long as possible to make sure they don’t spoil each other in elections (until we get ranked choice anyway). But in the long term, I absolutely see Democrats absorbing those closer to the center and becoming a centrist/conservative party for economics, and progressives splitting off to make a progressive party, which would have enormous gains in popularity.

                They’d all be socially liberal though. You’d still have a Trump party, but they’d be uninteresting and unimportant dregs, who are the home for social conservatives. They’ll be who we look at to remind ourselves our opponent could always be worse.

      • @HipHoboHarold
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        11 year ago

        If anything, I feel like ditching Trump might help them. He goes to prison, it’s the deep state democrats. Oh, we’re you in the Republicans Against Trump group? Well he’s gone, so we can being in people who sat the same things, bur sounds smarter sometimes. Hello fellow kids. I’m a cool radical liberal, much like you! Now that the orange man(Ha! Remember that meme!) is gone, we can totes relax and hang out with our bros, instead of worrying about politics!

        Luckily I think a lot of people have realized it’s much bigger than Trump, but they just need enough people to fall for it.