Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is having some fun at Republicans’ expense, stirring one of the pots simmering away in their civil war.
Jeffries is needling the so-called “moderates” in the Republican conference who are taking on leadership in what should be a no-brainer tax bill. The bill would extend the child tax credit to help more working families and reduce some business taxes. What more could you want in an election-year tax bill?
It’s not enough for some of the members of the Biden 17, the group of Republicans in districts that voted Democratic in the 2020 presidential election. They want their specific, parochial tax break for their constituents—increasing the federal deduction for state and local taxes—to be included in the bill. And they’re threatening to take a page out of the Freedom Caucus playbook and shut the House down if they don’t get it.
“Do it! Do it!” Jeffries seems to be urging them, in a masterful bit of trolling. He’s reinforcing just how vulnerable these members sitting in swing districts are. He’s also poking some fun at just how ineffectual they’ve been in accomplishing anything in the majority.
But Jeffries is also putting just that much more pressure on House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has a very, very tenuous hold on the majority right now and absolutely can’t afford to lose any votes on any bills. Another masterful troller—Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern—pointed out that the GOP’s ranks were so thin Monday that Democrats had the majority. "My Republican friends barely—barely—control the House of Representatives,” McGovern ribbed. “In fact, yesterday there were more Democrats voting than Republicans."
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