So, where do Republicans go from here? The promised red wave turned into a loss of the United States Senate, a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, and the strange upset loss of the great Kari Lake by an inarticulate, radical leftist in Arizona.
U.S. senators called for a delay of the vote for Senate leadership until after the composition of their body was determined, but that was rejected by the establishment wing of the Republican Party in the Senate.
Congressmen and women called for a delay until we knew what the final tally of the House would look like. As expected, that request was denied.
We are having leadership elections this week.
In the House, the margin of the majority is so slim that any three or four individuals can control or leverage to prevent the current Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, from being elected speaker.
If Republicans had won the House with a majority of 25-40 seats as many pollsters, and many Republican leaders predicted, the vast majority of Republicans would be saying that Kevin McCarthy should be given the chance to lead because he had led us to a “Red Wave” victory.
Now that the margin is far less than promised and precarious at best, Republicans are saying that we can’t choose a different leader because the margin is too tight. We don’t dare have an internal disagreement on whether Kevin McCarthy should be leader.
In other words, there should never be a turning of the page. So, when do Republican members of the United States House of Representatives think that we should change the status quo?
If you can’t change it when we have a large majority (which failed to materialize), and wouldn’t change it in 2020 when we were stuck in the minority, and now can’t change it when the majority is a couple of votes: we are being told that we can never change direction.
There are reforms that must be made in the House in order to facilitate representation of our constituents. Things like allowing members to move to amend bills, only allowing bills that cover a single subject (and, even then, keeping the issues small), and requiring bills to go through committees before bringing them to the floor. How about giving members plenty of time to read the legislation and debate the merits of legislation? How novel is that?
How about being willing to use every tool in the procedural toolbox to fight against the hostile takeover of America by the radical Leftists in the Biden regime? That means using certain legislation as leverage to stop or slow down Biden and company. That also means holding Democrats and bureaucrats accountable, using constitutionally acceptable methods and structures.
The American people want us to turn a page. They want us to address issues like fixing Title IX to prevent men from invading the women’s locker room, building a border fence, fixing the appropriations process to slow inflation-fueling government spending, and assuring voter integrity through mandatory voter identification laws. They want us to begin bringing down the cost of gas by reinstating the Keystone XL pipeline and permitting the exploration, development, and extraction of American oil and gas.
Americans do not want excuses or performance art, they want action and results.
What do you think? Perhaps it’s time to change the paradigm.
Congressman Andy Biggs represents Arizona’s Fifth Congressional District and serves on the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees.