Marge and her crew have a plan
Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman reports this morning that House Republicans plan to revive the Holman Rule in their rules package in January. What is the Holman Rule you ask? Greg Sargent wrote about it a few months back:
This obscure rule — which Republicans revived last time they held the majority, until the Democratic majority ended it — would allow Republicans to use spending bills totry toslash the salary of specific federal officials or eliminate blocks of federal employees, and thus specific programs.
In a little-noticed aside, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) recently floated this idea, without detail. So it’s easy to see this rule being used as a mechanism to try toeliminate Garland’s salary, or the salaries of FBI officials overseeing an investigation involving Trump (or, if this happens, Justice Department officials prosecuting him).
Republicans could also attempt to defund any investigations into Trump, or even defund probes and prosecutions relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. They could do this without the more improbable act of defunding the whole FBI.
Such an effort, of course, would not pass the Senate (if Democrats hold it) and would never get signed by President Biden. But it’s obvious Trump loyalists in the House will force showdowns over this, and if the GOP majority is narrow, those loyalists might be more empowered to succeed.
“I have no doubt whatsoever that they would use the threat of government shutdowns and debt ceiling breaches,” said Beyer, who predicted “some of the worst attacks on the rule of law this country has ever seen.”
Other Democrats also fear this. Rep. Gerry Connolly (Va.) suggested in a statement that Republicans who are “all too willing to do Trump’s bidding” will weaponize the Holman Rule. And Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.) said they will “use the levers of government to target, harass, and defund.”
When you hear Marge Greene screeching incessantly about “defunding” everything from the FBI to the White House, this is what she’s talking about. Of course, she’s only been in Congress for two years so she may not yet understand that these things require Senate approval and a presidential signature but even if she does, she doesn’t care. They want to turn everything into a spectacle.
I’m sure you recall the last time the GOP ran the congress, right?
Marge gets what Marge wants in this new congress. She wants to defund the government and they are going to have to at least try or she will not be happy. Nobody wants to make Marge unhappy. After all, she’s threatened to bring an armed mob to the Capitol. I think she means it.
Happy Hollandaise everyone! If you’d like to throw a little something in the old Hullabaloo stocking, it would be most appreciated.