Day 17 Without a Speaker at Most Dangerous Moment in 78 Years

The Republican-led House chaos will continue Friday, starting at 8 AM. This dysfunction is going on as the U.S. faces the most dangerous moment in 78 years.

Last night, the President of the United States gave a historical call-to-greatness-for-democracy address from the Oval Office. This morning, Republicans have on offer Day 17 without a Speaker, an 8 AM House caucus meeting, and a 10 AM vote for insurrectionist, never-passed-a-single-bill but covered-up-a-lot-of-sexual-assault Jim Jordan. Will there be an outbreak of fisticuffs?

This is the backdrop against which we face extreme concern about five different war threats, and what top officials are calling the most dangerous moment in 78 years. “Former Defense Secretary Bob Gates — who ran the Pentagon under presidents of both parties, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — tells us America is facing the most crises since World War II ended 78 years ago.”

We do so as former coach and now Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville is blocking, as of September 12, 2023, 273 individual military promotions. “This number does not account for the hundreds of military spouses and children who cannot move to new duty stations, enroll in new schools, and seek new jobs, nor does it account for the millions of servicemembers who are now serving without Senate-confirmed leaders and commanders.”

Republicans in the Senate have also been blocking the confirmation of Biden’s pick as Ambassador in Israel, Jack Lew because they didn’t think he was the right guy (even though their candidate for president lost and nominating people is the privilege of the person who won and furthermore, Biden’s nominees tend to be both qualified and have good track records) and diplomats in the Middle East, even as Israel is at war with Hamas. This situation has been called “unprecedented”:

Most glaringly, the U.S. does not currently have an ambassador in Israel. That vacancy hobbles the Biden administration's ability to pursue a number of goals, from negotiating the release of U.S. hostages held by Hamas to easing the violence and preventing it from blossoming into a wider conflict.

It is "unprecedented" to have so many U.S. ambassador posts sit vacant for as long as they have this year, Farah Pandith, an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told NPR.

The Senate is trying to move forward to address this situation, but every hour spent fighting Republican holds and objections (it takes a lot more time to move something that has a hold on it than it does for normal business) is an hour not spent confirming judges and other senate business. This is another way Republicans are trying to obstruct President Biden’s nominations and the power, given to him by the people of the U.S.

Note how not having an ambassador “hobbles” the Biden administration’s efforts to negotiate the release of U.S. hostages and ask yourself why, then, is this one of the biggest accusations coming from Republicans right now.