For nine months.
Then Republicans did the darned-near-impossible and effectively shut Congress itself down for three weeks this fall as they fought among themselves before selecting the relatively unknown Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as the second in line for the presidency.
Speaking of kicked out: That’s what the House did to Rep. George Santos (R-NY), making him only the sixth House member in U.S. history to endure such an indignity.
Lest we forget the narrowly averted government shutdowns, misdemeanor fire alarm pulls, impromptu mixed martial arts sessions and Smurf-tastic committee debates.
Dare we say Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice?
All the while, the 118th Congress has made history for being the least productive Congress in modern history as measured by the number of bills passed and signed into law.
As we prepare to usher in 2024, many lawmakers on Capitol Hill are muttering “good riddance” to a very bad, no good 2023.
“A year I'll never get back,” Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) told Raw Story. “This is just the most pathetic year of 30 years of being in government.”
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Don’t tell that to the new, smiley speaker.
After witnessing their fellow Republicans starting to derail the GOP agenda under freshman House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Republican leaders about-faced and launched an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden in the waning days of this session.
During the legislatively-lazy summer, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) hosted an Impeachment Week where each day she did a big reveal and unveiled a new member of Biden’s cabinet, which she accused of high crimes and misdemeanors informed by … internet memes.
This fall, she moved to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), but 23 Republicans helped defeat the measure because Greene accused Tlaib – the only Palestinian-American in Congress – of engaging in an “insurrection” for joining a pro-Palestine protest on the Capitol grounds.
Greene views those Republicans as traitors.
“I ran for Congress to change the Republican Party, and that has been my goal the entire time, to change our party to reflect our voters,” Greene told Raw Story at the time.
The following week another GOP-sponsored Tlaib censure resolution – one that didn’t casually toss around “insurrection” – sailed through the House, only it was sponsored by Greene’s fellow Georgian, Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA).
That made Tlaib the third Democrat – along with Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) – censured by House Republicans this Congress. Bowman, for his part, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor crime after erroneously pulling a fire alarm in a congressional office building.
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“Can’t seem to do anything, but we’re going to censure half of Congress by the time we're done. It’s a completely screwed up situation,” Pocan said. “MTG’s the speaker, right? Everything she says they do. That’s just where we’re at right now.”
Santos (R-NY) lied himself out of the congressional seat he lied himself into. But even he was chummy with members of the Freedom Caucus.
Not so for Greene. She made history when she became the first member booted – ingloriously and quite publicly – from the far-right, formerly-fiscally-focused group. Her sin? Calling Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) a “little b—” in the well of the House. Why? The embattled Boebert had the audacity to introduce her own Biden impeachment resolution — one in competition with Greene’s.
When Greene wasn’t attacking her fellow Republicans, Democratic colleagues or cabinet secretaries, she did drop a novel measure to expunge one of former President Trump’s two impeachments. Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York unveiled a companion measure to unwind the other one. Twins.
Legal scholars say an impeachment expungement is highly suspect constitutionally, but that didn’t stop members of Congress from advocating for it anyway.
The standards for impeachment — high crimes and misdemeanors — also didn’t stop the GOP from moving forward with its Biden impeachment inquiry mere months after some of those same skeptical scholars testified under oath that they saw no evidence warranting Biden-focused impeachment proceedings.
What is evidence in politics anyways?
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Scandal is in the air on the House side of the Capitol, and that’s by design. Greene serves on the House Oversight Committee, which is chaired by Rep. James Comer (R-KY). He’s proud of the work product coming out of his hyper-partisan committee.
“I feel like we've done a very good job,” Comer told Raw Story. “Everything we found, no one would have known had we not done it. I think we're doing a good job, and my job was to investigate and follow the money and that's what we're doing.”
Over on the Senate side of the Capitol, they’re singing a different tune. Biden’s Democratic allies in the chamber dismiss Comer and his committee out of hand.
“Several Republicans have now admitted this is simply an attempt to generate cover for the former president who was impeached twice and has been indicted four times and faces 91 charges. It lacks any seriousness,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told Raw Story.
“Do you worry though about impeachment and censures getting cheapened?” Raw Story asked. “Like, MTG, she had an ‘Impeachment Week’ where every day of the week she announced a new secretary to oust.”
“I spend literally no time worrying about or thinking about what Marjorie Taylor Greene has done today,” Coons said through hearty laughter. “It’s better for my blood pressure and my health.”
With a new year comes new hope. But with the White House and both sides of Congress utterly up for grabs next year, and numerous fights waiting for Congress’ post-holiday return — remember Ukraine, Israel and Southern border funding, for three? — 2024 is shaping up to be as politically unhealthy as ever.
And, if the 118th Congress continues apace, it’s expected to be historic. If, historically cringe-worthy.
