OPINION:
Members of the House Freedom Caucus sent a multipoint plan to dodge the legislative lame-duckery that’s come to Capitol Hill, post-midterm, and in it, they say two months is enough time to accomplish much before the lunatics, err, Democrats take control of Congress.
Appreciate the effort, HFC. But if two years isn’t enough time for Republicans in Congress to get anything done, then two months certainly ain’t gonna cut it.
On principle, though, the Freedom Caucus is quite right. It should be Republican full-speed-ahead time. Once January dawns, Democrats are going to be busily impeaching everybody who carries even a whiff of MAGA. They’ve already started. Rep. Thomas Massie just this week filed articles of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. House Minority-soon-to-be-Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says he’s a “hard yes” on pursuing that impeachment. And just think: Massie is a Republican. The Democrats don’t even control the committees yet. When they do?
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Christmas, this season, comes in January for Democrats.
It’s nice some in Congress still want to act, though. It’s nice in a sort of “bless their little hearts” kind of way.
“In the two months remaining in the 119th Congress,” wrote the Freedom Caucus in a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, “we have an enormous amount of unfinished business to preserve and protect the Republic from an incoming majority party hell-bent on radically changing it.”
Their main message is to “codify” all that President Trump did on the border. They also want to strengthen voter ID laws — which sort of reminds us of the SAVE Act they dithered around and didn’t pass. Voter identification, election integrity, tightening voter laws. Haven’t we already seen this show? The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act — that’s the one the vast majority of Americans, from both political parties, wanted as law. That’s the one that makes it tough for illegals to vote. That’s also the one Democrats hate because it strips away their ability to let in illegals to influence census counts to sway apportionment figures to pad the Democrat ballot boxes. But still: Gallup found that about 84 percent of U.S. adults supported a requirement to show a photo identification at the ballot box. About the same percentage supported a requirement for first-time voters to show proof of U.S. citizenship.
Simple stuff.
Widely supported.
Never passed.
Even with a Republican majority in the House and Senate — never passed.
But the House Freedom Caucus still has hope Thune and Johnson will deliver — or, at least, technically, could deliver — in the final few days of congressional business.
Of course, Thanksgiving is right around the corner — and Congress will break for that. Then comes Christmas, right around the next corner — and Congress will break for that. Then there’s New Year’s — don’t forget New Year’s! — and Congress will break for that. But between all those breaks and Jan. 3, when the new congressional members are sworn into office — and Democrats take the positions of leadership in Congress — there’s probably plenty of opportunity for Republicans to shove through some important legislation and get it to Trump’s desk for signing.
“House Freedom Caucus urges rapid action on new reconciliation package,” The Hill wrote in one headline.
Specifically, the members are pushing for tax relief, $1 trillion in spending cuts, and significant funding for the military and national defense.
They also want to ban stock trading by lawmakers and impose term limits on members of Congress. Ohh … wait. There’s that. Oh well.
There’s always the next election in 2028. Bless their little hearts, it could happen in 2028.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
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