House members have responded to legitimate criticism with cynicism. Let’s not have another ‘Bernie bros’ moment

on Thursday, Jeffries refused to saywhether he supported or opposed controversial efforts to integrate the US and Israeli militaries.

Jeffries also said this summer that he opposes Medicare for All, reversing his earlier position, and putting him at odds with a number of progressive Democrats who campaigned on the platform.

He’s been consistently hostile to the progressive faction of his party, refusing to endorse Mamdani for New York City mayor for months. And it was recently revealed that Jeffries met with Jared Kushner in private before the midterms

…Many progressives view Jeffries as an establishment figure who offers no hope for meaningful change and want someone less beholden to corporate interests to be speaker. Jeffries and some of his allies, meanwhile, have suggested that denying him the opportunity to become the first Black speaker in US history would be, to quote Bloomberg, “racially insensitive”.

…And we’ve seen this craven use of identity politics to smear progressive politics before, haven’t we? It’s the Bernie bros playbook all over again.

  • ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    51 minutes ago

    Never thought I’d downvote a pro-HCR comment, but here we are. She’s just wrong on this.

    The primary legislative job of both the Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House is to control what, when, and how any particular bit of legislation comes to the floor for a vote. They are first and foremost both legislative positions, and it is in the legislative duties that their vast individual power resides.

    You can have an entire party that wants something, even a supermajority, and not have your bill come to the floor because your own party’s Speaker blocked it. Case in point: all the times the House Republicans in the current Congress have had to sign a discharge petition to get around Mike Johnson.

    • In March 2025, a petition to make a House rule to allow proxy voting by members who gave birth, or with spouses who did so, reached the requisite number of signatures. The petition was tabled in April 2025 after the House leadership approved rules to establish vote pairing.
    • A second petition reached the required majority in November 2025 to bring forward the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The bill passed the House on November 18, 2025 by a vote of 427 to 1, formally passed the Senate by unanimous consent on November 19, 2025, and was signed by President Trump later that day.
    • A third petition reached the required majority in November 2025 to bring forward a bill restoring collective bargaining rights for most federal employees. The bill passed the House on December 11, 2025 by a vote of 231 to 195.
    • A fourth petition reached the required majority in December 2025 to bring forward a bill authorizing a three-year extension of the enhanced tax credits under the Affordable Care Act. It passed the House on January 8, 2026 by a vote of 230 to 196.
    • A fifth petition reached the required majority in March 2026 to bring forward a bill directing the Department of Homeland Security to designate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status. The bill passed the House on April 16, 2026 by a vote of 224-204.
    • A sixth petition reached the required majority in May 2026 to bring forward a bill to providence financial assistance to Ukraine, add new economic sanctions on Russia, and help to fund Ukrainian reconstruction. The bill passed the House on June 4, 2026 by a vote of 226 to 195.
    • A seventh petition reached the required majority in May 2026 to bring forward a bill to amend the National Labor Relations Act to impose strict federal timelines and mandatory binding arbitration on first union contract negotiations. The bill passed the House on June 9, 2026 by a vote of 230 to 193.
    • An eighth petition reached the required majority in September 2026 to bring forward a bill that allows a veteran with a combat-related disability to receive retirement pay, without reduction, concurrently with their disability compensation. The bill passed the House on November 12, 2026 by a vote of 392 to 18.
    • A ninth petition reached the required majority in November 2026 to bring forward the Epstein Files Transparency Act II.

    That’s what Dems in the new Congress will have to do to get around Jeffries. Same goes for Chuck Schumer, especially when it comes to slowing down cash flowing to Israel:

    Schumer is a longtime supporter of military aid to Israel and has manoeuvred to stop bills in Congress that would condition military assistance.

    I have a lot of respect for HCR and listen to her regularly, but on this she is dead wrong.

    Neither Schumer nor Jeffries will advance legislation they don’t like, and have proven it time and again, most recently with Jeffries not whipping the Hegseth impeachment vote.