Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, has openly questioned whether the GOP deserves to keep the House majority, lamenting the lack of accomplishments this Congress. He’s not alone.

When Congress began the new year, Rep. Andy Biggs gave a television interview and made a startling confession: House Republicans have done nothing they can run on.

“We have nothing. In my opinion, we have nothing to go out there and campaign on,” the Arizona Republican said on the conservative network Newsmax. “It’s embarrassing.”

Anchor Chris Salcedo responded with a bemused chuckle. “I know,” he said. “The Republican Party in the Congress majority has zero accomplishments.”

The exchange captured a dynamic that looms over Republican lawmakers heading into the 2024 election: They’ve passed little substantive legislation since winning the majority in 2022 and struggled to do the basics of governing with a Democratic-led Senate. Their first year was instead marked by fractiousness and chaos, complicating the party’s pitch to voters this fall. The challenge is accentuated by likely GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump making “retribution” against his enemies, rather than shared policy goals, the centerpiece of his comeback bid as he continues to spread fabricated claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    To be fair, they do have achievements. They’re just incredibly unpopular with the general public.

    The got abortion banned, they brought back child labor in some states, they blocked support for Russia’s invasion of Europe, they’re blocking bipartisan legislation on immigration so they continue to campaign on it, they got America’s Credit rating dropped again, and they’re about to make it so federal regulators can’t keep food, water, and workplaces safe.

    They were able to do a lot with their court appointments, local officials, and good old fashioned obstruction.

    • Deceptichum@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      and they blocked support for Russia’s invasion of Europe

      I know what you meant, but it reads as the opposite.

      Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go donate towards children’s cancer.

    • Wrench@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      And to move the goal post on culture wars. Trans are the new browns, who were the new gays, who were the new blacks and women.

      I’m sure I forgot a few boogiemen. Native Americans slot in there somewhere too.

      It’s astounding to me that my conservative friends, who were raised in the 90s and totally fine with gay people, are now falling for the “Trans are a danger to their kids” bullshit.

      • Holyhandgrenade@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Yeah it’s the exact same shit they did with gay people. When are people gonna drill it into their thick skulls that the GOP wants to divide people with culture war bullshit to keep us distracted while they rob us blind?

    • mateomaui@reddthat.com
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      10 months ago

      You forgot to mention giving Hunter’s junk more exposure than he ever did. MTG is proud of that one.

      • IamSparticles@lemmy.zip
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        10 months ago

        As a fan of Magic The Gathering, I really wish people would stop referring to Ms Green using her initials.

        • ouRKaoS@lemmy.today
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          10 months ago

          I wholeheartedly agree!

          M:tG ≠ MTG

          The fact that punctuation and capitalisation are necessary to distinguish the two is quite upsetting.

    • Pipoca@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      The US House banned abortion federally in the last year? The US House is about to do away with chevron deference?

      This is a Republican House member complaining that their last session has mostly been embarrassing. The highest profile thing they’ve done is had a hard time keeping a speaker.

      And aren’t court appointments a senate thing?

    • NatakuNox@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Only when they get caught having a gay hookup in a gray hound bathroom… Which has happened several times unsurprisingly

      • rdyoung@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Don’t forget the restrooms in parks and other places. Also don’t forget the underage pages that were all the rage decades ago.

        • NatakuNox@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          As long as anti gay activists, pastors, and GOP politicians keep buying bus tickets so they have an excuse to why they were found chugging cock in the public restroom, Greyhound will stay in business.

    • ForestOrca@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      I was assuming the article said, “the GOP is embarrassing.” It’s embarrassing, Republicans - seems self evident. I mean, it’s not like 10 minutes when by and they didn’t get anything done. Weeks, months, years have gone by with GOP demonstrating no interest in governing; of course they haven’t accomplished anything.

      • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Which is complete bullshit, they’ve wreaked havoc on civil rights and eroded the fabric of society to the point of implosion, what the fuck they talking about “we done nothing”, they did a LOT, and they should face trial and execution in the damned International Court once their fascist aspirations crumble.

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    10 months ago

    That’s NOT true! They have MANY accomplishments!

    They forced raped 10 year olds to give Birth! They forced poor people to pay back predatory student loans! They protected Rich CEOS who poisoned American Citizens! They ROLLED BACK Child Labor Laws! They banned the Bible and Dictionary! They made Healthcare ILLEGAL! They protected Cops who killed Kids or watched Kids DIE! They KILLED and TRAFFICKED people! They haven’t passed a Budget!

    These are EXACTLY why Republicans keep voting for them! To do EXACTLY this!

    • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      They banned the Bible? I’m in favor of that. Enough bronze age superstitions running society already

      • IamSparticles@lemmy.zip
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        10 months ago

        They banned the Bible?

        Sort of. A few districts in states where they instituted “parental oversight” laws got challenges for the bible, so it was temporarily removed from school libraries until it could go through the review process. AFAIK in every case, it was rubber-stamped instead of facing a review consistent with other challenged books.

        • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          What.

          I mean that’s fukn amazing.

          This brings great joy to me, thank you for the update.

          Hahahajajajajja

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    10 months ago

    They could start by passing a clean Ukraine lethal aid bill in the House that exceeds what Biden is asking for. Funding for high paying American jobs always sells well. And it’s a win-win that those high paying American jobs are to produce modern weapons like PrSM to upgrade the US Army’s capability, enabling them to pass old ATACMS to Ukraine to dispatch Russian invaders.

      • Jaderick@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I think that guy is right though, strategically speaking. It would be in their (garbage republicans) best interest to pass some benefit for the military industrial complex that’s kept them in power, because right now they have nothing.

        It’s kind of hilarious that Russia was a US conservative’s worst enemy until 2015. 10 years ago a Ukraine bill would have basically no opposition (assuming post Maidan), but Russia has clearly made inroads with the far-right grifters lol.

        • kaitco@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Russia has clearly made inroads with the far-right grifters

          This is why they won’t pass any massive military spending bills, especially those that have to do with Ukraine. They’re all being paid by the Russians, and allowing Ukraine to continue to do well hits them in the pockets more directly than all the other super PACs combined.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Putin bought them out after we started supplying/selling weapons to Ukraine after the 2014 Crimea invasion, with Obama and everyone pushing hard to get Ukraine out of Putin’s sphere of influence. (complete with supporting the Euromaidan, and “the revolution of dignity”… )

            • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              I think we should ship Putin everything he paid for. Air drop them into that village they built, just for expats…

      • Tom_Hanx_Hail_Satan@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        I’m personally more hawkish than others on the left, i feel. Even if we cut the military budget in half we’d still have the strongest military by a large margin. If Ukraine isn’t a situation for the richest country in the history of the world to support, what is?

      • Garbanzo@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Not necessarily, but it really demonstrates that they can’t deliver even when their base and Dem colleagues would support it.

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        10 months ago

        In general, no.

        When it supports to defend itself and to drain Russia’s military capabilities through attrition, YES.

  • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    “We just wish we could have destroyed a bigger part of society and caused additional policy disasters… Sometimes I wonder if we are really evil anymore…”

    • jeremyparker@programming.dev
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      10 months ago

      “The Republican Party is a caucus, representing many different viewpoints. Some of my colleagues wish to worsen the lives of poor people. Others prefer to focus on worsening the lives of minorities. Still others prioritize their personal financial well-being. With this diversity of opinions, it can be hard to find common ground.”

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    10 months ago

    Guess they can’t really brag about where they actually focus energy: stonewalling any and all progress and poisoning the public’s opinion and trust of “the Other”, whatever the target may be.

  • GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Bragging about accomplishments and compromise is the old way to campaign.

    The modern form of getting elected is not to actually do anything. Because if you solve a problem then you can’t scare your voters with that problem in the future.

    An example of this is abortion. Conservatives could always count on the one issue, “pro-life” voter to give them their vote to ban abortion. Now that it’s become easier for states to restrict abortion there is less incentive for these one issue voters to come out to the polls.

    I fear that the left is starting to see the effectiveness of the “scare the voter” strategy and will drag their feet on certain hot topic issues like abortion so they can get more votes.

  • Rapidcreek@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    What?

    Attempting to restrict medical care and the rights of gay people not sitting well with you?

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      10 months ago

      It really seems like they can, which is why the headline is kind of bizarre.

      • frezik@midwest.social
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        10 months ago

        They can’t go on indefinitely. It works because they attack each other in purity contests; the fight over speakers (twice) was one major front in this. Eventually, you run out of people to purify and need to invent a whole new issue. If you don’t, your support evaporates as people look for actual solutions to their problems.

        There’s a strategy here that I don’t think has been fully utilized. If you can get the right to speedrun their purity contests against each other, you might be able to watch them eat each other quietly in a corner rather than dragging the whole country into fascism.

  • Suavevillain@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    They have a base of people who don’t care about material change or want any policy that is net positive in their lives.