Checking In On Republicans

It is about time for the House Republicans to pass some empty debt ceiling measure (e.g., involving repealing basic provisions of past Biden policy).  This is almost charming on some level. It is b.s., it will fail, etc. You expect this sort of thing, especially in a divided Congress. So, you know, okay.

Trans hate is another matter: 

House Republicans on Thursday approved legislation that would bar transgender women and girls from participating in athletic programs designated for women, part of a nationwide push by conservatives to restrict transgender rights as they make culture issues a centerpiece of their political message.

The bill, approved entirely along party lines on a vote of 219 to 203, was the latest attempt by House Republicans to take up a potent social issue that has rallied their base and been championed at the state level by Republican lawmakers.

As I understand it, this will primarily be done as a string on federal education funding.  

There are also things like this:

Last month, House Republicans approved legislation that would mandate that schools make library catalogs and curriculums public, and require parental consent before honoring a student’s request to change their gender-identifying pronouns. 

The use of this sort of thing on a national level -- sort of shows why the Biden Administration figured that the new trans policy on what is banned needs some air -- is a mixture of fear, hate, and partisan bullshit, a sort of unholy trinity. 

It's one of those times you just want to say ARE YOU NUTS? Are you worried about this? As national policy. 

Anti-trans measures are the flavor of the hate these days, the question being just how much will be allowed.  

After the Tennesse Republicans went after three (expelling the two young black legislators, who quickly came back), we have Montana (tossing in misgendering) silencing (somewhat ashamed) a trans legislator for being too blunt about the anti-trans hate out there. 

Of course, there is the continuing fear of voting rights. It's nice they got a big Trump Stop The Steal hero there (was Ginny Thomas not available?) including such concerns about those darn kids:

“What are these college campus locations?” she asked, according to the audio. “What is this young people effort that they do? They basically put the polling place next to the student dorm so they just have to roll out of bed, vote, and go back to bed."

This leads me to be somewhat dubious about the idea that Republicans in the Senate have a limit regarding blocking Feinstein's replacement even if she actually resigns. I'm warily inclined to agree though it is academic since her actually resigning does not seem likely.

Republicans have blocked (weird after she congratulated Sen. Graham on his handling of the Barrett nomination!) an attempt to temporarily replace her on the now evenly split Judiciary Committee.  

No matter that some still want to handwave this (and people like Nancy Pelosi suggest it is somehow sexist to want someone who has shown her inability for years now to resign), this does have consequences.  It won't block all nominees (they had an evenly split committee the first two years), but a 51-49 Senate was supposed to help ease things. 

The presidency and the U.S. Senate are what the Democrats have to counter the Republicans.  Yes, they also can say some great things in the House, great for sound clips and all, but Democrats have real control of the other two places.  They need to step up here, including ending things like blue slips.  

The latest Thomas ethics issues and the pending abortion pill litigation just remind us of the stakes as does continual horrible things like the anti-trans efforts. Durbin "invited" Roberts to testify on May 2nd, making sure to say it can just be about ethics.

One Supreme Court watcher said that he is not one to totally shrug off such a request, though (as offered) he might send one or two (perhaps a Gorsuch/Sotomayor tag team?) in his stead.  Uh-huh.  Don't let a bit of reasonableness take the eye off the ball.  Small fixes are no longer enough.

The stakes are high. If Roberts is willing to show up, let him offer advice on the terms. But, a binding ethics bill (the Senate needs to okay funding) better not be taken off the table.  We are far past the "just trust us" phase.