In some cases, GOP members of Congress have said legislation they supported will need to be fixed down the road. In others, they've backed off explicit threats to vote "no."

The move represents a trend in Congress during Donald Trump’s second term. Republican lawmakers across the ideological spectrum keep casting votes in favor of bills even while warning that they’re deeply flawed and may require fixing down the road. In some cases, lawmakers explicitly threaten to vote “no” on bills before eventually folding and voting “yes.”

It isn’t unusual for lawmakers to back legislation they call imperfect. But this year, that contrast has become more stark. It comes as Trump has solidified his grasp over the GOP base, resulting in lawmakers growing increasingly leery of crossing him and risking their political futures.

Nowhere has that dynamic been more pronounced than with the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, whose members have repeatedly threatened to oppose bills before acquiescing under pressure from Trump. With Trump’s megabill, they complained about red ink: It’s expected to add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    3·
    12 hours ago

    Doesn’t matter if they didn’t mean to

    Yeah, it does. Social murder should be punished at least as harshly as “regular” murder, but social manslaughter needs to be a lesser category.

    Like maybe an accidental first offense that doesn’t result in any serious harm means you have to pay a fine, second offense/more harmful results in being ineligible for the next election, all the way to things like “Iraq has WMDs so a million people have to die” or “condoms cause AIDS” getting you the guillotine…

    • qarbone@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      6 hours ago

      No, if you say inflammatory shit that leads to deaths then it doesn’t matter if you didn’t mean to. Politicians should be afraid to speak if their words can kill and disenfranchise.