Do We Really Need the House of Representatives?

I am sitting here watching the first vote for Speaker of the House and midway through the roll call, Jim Jordan is lacking 11 votes. If more than 2 members of the GOP caucus (plus everyone on the blue team) won’t vote his way, the Speaker’s chair remains unfilled, at least for the rest of today.

Today’s Salon column on Jordan needs to be read.

Would it be such a ‘gefailach’ (read: big deal) as Grandpa used to say, if nobody got elected Speaker? I don’t mean anybody getting elected right now, I mean permanently, or at least until 2025.

Oh yeah, I forgot. There’s that big spending bill which is set for a vote on November 16. What happens if that vote doesn’t occur? The Federal Government runs out of money — kind of.

First of all, I have yet to see a complete list of staff positions which must continue to be filled and worked because these are ‘critical’ efforts which are always being done. The guys who fly those F-35’s off the coast will continue to take off and land every day, ditto the people who turn on the presses and print the social security checks.

So, the national parks close down which means you can’t drive through Yellowstone and take a selfie standing next to a bear. There may also not be enough agents looking at those monitors which start buzzing and clanging if you try to bring a gun onto a plane. And maybe your chicken farm won’t be inspected by someone looking to find a germ in some of your eggs.