On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Georgia’s 10th District, Jody Hice, who prior to his election to office in 2014, we warned that Pastor Hice had already made several controversial statements, such as arguing against the existence of a separation of church and state, referring to homosexuality as beastiality, and denying acknowledging that Islam was an actual religion, so therefore, in his mind, the First Amendment of the Constitution does not apply to Muslims. While our update on Hice in 2015 was mostly a discussion of his abysmal voting record, we did pause to look at Hice’s further thoughts on what he considers the “so-called separation of church and state”, calling it a “false belief“, and that secular government causes increases in violence, gangs, and teen pregnancy. Hice has talked less, with the biggest focus of his power of a legislator being that he considers renaming parks after Nancy Reagan or sponsoring Personhood legislation like the “Sanctity of Life Act” to be higher priorities to doing anything else to help the country.
Jody Hice did not face a Democratic challenger in 2016 and coasted back to the House to make a nuisance of himself:
- February 16th, 2017: Hice votes for HJR 69, to make it legal for hunters on wildlife reserves to kill several species of hibernating bears or wolves while they’re sleeping. Because… well, the logic really isn’t there as to why, it’s just awful.
- March 16th, 2017: Jody Hice votes for HR 1181, which would allow veterans deemed mentally incompetent to continue to own firearms, and not have them taken away without a judge’s written order. We feel safer already.
- March 28th, 2017: Rep. Hice votes for SJ Res 34, which allowed internet providers to sell the data information of their customers’ internet usage to businesses. Well, so much for privacy.
- May 4th, 2017: Hice votes for the House GOP’s healthcare plan, that would kick roughly 24 million people off their health insurance plans, allow up to 28,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, and would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions which would include such medical conditions as pregnancy (current or past), post-partum depression, or prior sexual assault. Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Hice would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country. He and his Republican compatriots threw themselves a beer bash to celebrate taking away healthcare from millions and then gloated about it with Donald Trump at a White House press conference, as well.
- June 8th, 2017: Jody Hice votes for HR 10, the GOP’s attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank financial reform, because what the country really needs is to allow the big banks to make the same mistakes that imploded the economy only a decade earlier.
- September 8th, 2017: Rep. Hice chooses to be one of 90 Republicans in Congress who votes against disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey.
- October 3rd, 2017: Hice votes for HR 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that would try to create an unconstitutional ban abortion at 20 weeks (even though medical science tells us fetuses do not have the capability to feel pain until 29 weeks).
- December 19th, 2017: Jody Hice votes for HR 1, the GOP’s $1.7 trillion tax cut to benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations permanently that coincidentally also removes the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and kicks 13 million people off their health insurance.
- February 18th, 2018: Hice and his fellow Republicans decide that poor big businesses are suffering too much at the hands of the Americans with Disabilities Act too much, and vote for HR 620, which would strip most of the civil rights protections guaranteed by it.
Currently, Jody Hice is doing his best to provide cover for Donald Trump during the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, so much so that in a Fox News appearance on May 22nd, 2018, Hice called for “an investigation into the investigators” because he’s just so upset that Robert Mueller and his team keep finding out all the illegal things Trump and his campaign officials were doing to try to steal away the White House.
Rather than worrying about that, Jody Hice might want to take a look over his shoulder at Tabitha Johnson-Green, the registered nurse and Democrat who’s challenging him for his seat in Congress in November. Johnson-Green has a tough battle ahead of her, as Georgia’s 10th has a +15 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, and voters in were +25% in favor of Donald Trump just two years ago. It will be interesting to see as all the stories of corruption continue to spill out of the Trump White House, if the Blue Wave this fall grows big enough to sweep away Hice as well.