The ongoing investigation of Donald Trump by the Department of Justice for obstruction of justice and violations of the espionage act has succeeded in one thing in particular—exposing the extent to which the Republicans have become a fascist cult of personality. The immediate reaction from Republicans to finding that their hero had been storing extremely sensitive government documents in his Mar-a-Lago basement was not concern about national security, but to declare war on the Justice Department and Democrats.
With democracy already having a tenuous hold, the Republicans fury at their leader being subject to the rule of law like everyone else, this year’s midterms elections are everything. Not only could a Republican Congress block every legislative effort from the Biden administration, and block every judicial or executive nominee, and tie up the administration in dozens of phony hearings, they could gut the department and punish individual Justice employees.
“DEFUND THE FBI” is a thing now with Republicans. Thankfully, Democrats in the House are preparing for that, telling The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent that they’re gaming out all the possible things Republicans could do, preparing for “a worse-case scenario” in the event Republicans take Congress back. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) told Sargent that “they want to ensure that Trump is above the law,” and that they will view law enforcement investigating “a threat to Trump” and “must be deterred, blocked, punished, or fired.”
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They can do that with control of the federal purse; they can starve the department. What has Democrats particularly concerned, however, is the obscure and ancient Homan Rule, which allows congress to punish specific federal employees or programs by slashing salaries and funding. It was first enacted in 1876, then rescinded in 1983, but Republicans revived it in 2017. Democrats then reversed that in 2019 and eliminated it again.
Republicans want it back, as Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) explained at CPAC earlier this month. He’s talking about the Holman Rule, defunding the FBI and Justice, and impeaching judges.
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They can’t do it with Biden as president because of his veto power, but they can try, and they can stop anything from happening in Congress while they’re trying. But there are also powerful hostages they can take in the process. “I have no doubt whatsoever that they would use the threat of government shutdowns and debt ceiling breaches,” Beyer told Sargent, predicting “some of the worst attacks on the rule of law this country has ever seen.”
Beyer isn’t alone in that. Rep. Gerry Connolly, also from Virginia, where many of his constituents are federal employees, said that Republicans are “all too willing to do Trump’s bidding” and will use the Holman Rule to do it. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD) told Sargent they will “use the levers of government to target, harass, and defund.”
All of this means that keeping the House in Democratic hands is at least as critical as keeping the Senate. Larger majorities in both chambers could make the next few years under Biden just as productive as the last month has been.
We are in decent shape to hold the Senate, but Democrats are in danger of losing the U.S. House in November. Help us keep the House by writing effective "please vote" messages on Postcards to Democratic-leaning voters in targeted House districts.
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