Posted on 07/05/2026 12:32:39 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
WASHINGTON—A growing number of GOP lawmakers have little incentive to come to work or toe the party line, putting critical legislation in danger as Republicans lurch toward the midterms.
Some are privately calling it the zombie Congress.
GOP leaders are increasingly concerned that members will lose motivation to show up, or may break with the party if they do, potentially stalling or killing some bills, according to lawmakers and aides. While the Senate has been the main focus of GOP cracks, the House is also facing an uncertain summer and fall, with attendance issues and a renewed sense of independence among retiring, defeated or angry members threatening to upend the Republican agenda.
“If you’re not at least a little bit frustrated right now, then I question your, maybe your sanity. Nobody signed up for this,” said Rep. Steve Womack (R., Ark.), who worried problems passing bills could hurt GOP chances in the fall. “Right now it’s almost like shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said.
Just this past week, a renewed rebellion over the stalled Save America Act voter-ID bill stopped action on the House floor and prompted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) to throw in the towel and send members home early for the Fourth of July holiday. On a typically party-line procedural vote meant to set the agenda for the week, holdouts led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R., Fla.) swelled to more than a dozen to easily block the measure.
“I don’t care who in this chamber hates me for it,” Luna said on social media.
Seven Republicans missed the vote entirely. Almost none can be spared given the party’s narrow 219-212 majority, which includes one independent who caucuses with the GOP.
Even as routine daily votes are going off the rails, Johnson and...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
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The GOP is not a serious party.
As usual, the fake Republicans are going to lose. Because that is their goal.
They love the minority.
These people are paid about $225,000/year to work.
Work! And be grateful!
We do not sufficiently despise Congress.
“They love the minority.”
All the pay and none of the legislative work.
So what’s Emmer got to say? He’s the house majority whip.
Time for him to use it or get the hell out of the way!
One should be prepared to answer for what one does, and then do what needs to be done.
The leftists have a point. The SAVE Act would make it more difficult for many. I didn’t have a birth certificate in my possession while in college.
Reform should be based on Trump’s postal service executive order.
The ballot of or for any person not considered a citizen should be treated as a provisional ballot.
The mail-in ballot of or for any person without a signature match made by (an FEC-certified) electro-optical means should be treated as a provisional ballot.
The mail-in ballot of or for any person without a matching date of birth of the voter should be treated as a provisional ballot.
The mail-in ballot of or for any person that traveled by an unusual postal path (as might be determined by USPS software after a cellphone Intelligent Mail barcode scan) should be treated as a provisional ballot.
Republican candidates who spend months of time campaigning certainly should be entitled to due process.
The SAVE Act is unlikely to survive a court challenge presented before a leftist judge. And you know Barrett and Roberts will typically vote to help Democrats in essential matters.
“The leftists have a point. The SAVE Act would make it more difficult for many. I didn’t have a birth certificate in my possession while in college.“
Neither did I. Then i needed one to work at Grumman Areospace, so I got one. Still have it.
I’d be more concerned with them listening to their constituents. The ‘parties’ are the problem.
Congress’ approval rating is only around 15%.
The problem is that the same morons keep getting elected, from both sides. Republicans are just as much to blame as Democrats for the current system. Especially, with the re-election of RINOs or the “just hold your nose and vote Republican” mantra.
It’s also how people like McCain and Romney became the nominees.
Politicians are always focused on the next election as they plot to gain power. With Trump’s term coming up on the halfway mark many Republicans assume that MAGA will go away and business as usual will resume. Vance/Rubio need to declare themselves as MAGA inheritors to nip reactionary forces in the bud.
This is exactly why they are doing this, they don't want to win. Just a truly pathetic and worthless party.
This was widely and easily predicted here in the 3rd week of November 2024...
The GOP had already dusted off the backstabbing agenda it had used in 2017-2020 to cripple most of Trump’s actions...
Neither is the Democrat Party. In fact, the Dems are not a party at all in the traditional sense. They are a conglomeration of Socialists, Communists, Radical Anarchists, assorted environmental activists, the gay alphabet soup of freaks, serious anti-American types, and multiple other nutcases.
"I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace, that two are called a law firm, and that three or more become a congress."
Delivered by the character of John Adams in the musical '1776.'
Reported by that most accurate reporter Olivia Beavers. More Fake News!
A Zombie Congress Is Threatening Trump’s Agenda
The irony of our zombie, constitutionally very limited power (hint) Congress is this. Given that delivering the mail is one of the very few MAIN peacetime powers that the Constitution's drafters actually gave to Congress, most federal policy now based on stolen state powers, the drafters required Congress to meet only once a year so that they could approve artwork for new postage stamps.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 7: To establish Post Offices and post Roads; It is one of a few government agencies explicitly authorized by the Constitution of the United States. (non-FR)
Article I, Section 4, Clause 2: The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year [emphasis added], and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.
From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added]. —United States v. Butler, 1936.
Unfortunately, citizens are now being oppressed by a very corrupt, post-16th (16A; direct taxes) and 17th (17A; popular vote for federal senators) Amendments ratification, full-time Congress that spends our tax dollars for a bunch of things that lawmakers simply cannot justify under their constitutional Article I, Section 8-limited powers, all of Congress's spending bills failing the Madison Test.
Regarding the Madison Test, note that the 14th Congress in the time of President James Madison (4th pres.), Madison generally regarded as the father of the Constitution, had found some EXISTING tax revenues and got all happy about spending it. So Congress drafted the Bonus Bill of 1817 to use the taxpayer dollars to improve military readiness and commerce by authorizing the construction of roads and canals intended to facilitate moving troops and manufactured goods. But Congress had based the bill solely on the General Welfare Clause (GWC) which turned out to be a BIG mistake.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 1: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States [emphasis added]; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
More specifically, while Madison AGREED with Congress that the bill would improve transportation, he diplomatically clarified in his veto explanation that while the GWC authorizes Congress to tax and spend, he reminded Congress that the Constitution's drafters, Madison himself a major player, had intended for the clauses that followed it in Section 8 to limit what Congress could spend tax dollars for, no mention of roads and canals for Congress's purpose for the Bonus Bill. Madison also noted that the bonus bill didn't even pass Congress's traditional "wild card" excuse for justifying spending, the infamous "Necessary and Proper Clause."
The legislative powers vested in Congress are specified and enumerated in the eighth section of the first article of the Constitution, and it does not appear that the power proposed to be exercised by the bill is among the enumerated powers, or that it falls by any just interpretation within the power to make laws necessary and proper [emphasis added] for carrying into execution those or other powers vested by the Constitution in the Government of the United States. —President James Madison, March 3, 1817: Veto Message on the Internal Improvements Bill
Note Thomas Jefferson's advice on interpreting Congress's limited powers complimented Madison's veto.
In every event, I would rather construe so narrowly as to oblige the nation to amend, and thus declare what powers they would agree to yield, than too broadly, and indeed, so broadly as to enable the executive and the Senate to do things which the Constitution forbids. —Thomas Jefferson: The Anas, 1793.
Getting back to 16A, it is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for organized crime, front-ended by deep state Congress, and desperately needs to be repealed.
Consider that most post-17A ratification federal lawmakers discovered long ago that they could promise voters who have evidently never really studied the fed's constitutionally limited powers every unconstitutional federal social spending program under the sun to get themselves elected. Constitutionally naïve voters eventually took the bait and elected these crooks, and then reelected them!
Then once in office, criminal-minded lawmakers abuse their 16A powers by simply fulfilling their campaign promises for unconstitutional federal spending, scandalously ignoring their constitutional Article I, Section 8 spending limits when doing so.
The 17th Amendment needs to disappear too.
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