House GOP Priorities
Republican Priority #1: Unprecedented Impeachment of IRS Commissioner
Bloomberg: "House plans vote to impeach IRS chief" [9/7]. "Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday the House will vote on whether to impeach Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen… The House hasn't impeached a Cabinet official since the mid-1870s and has never impeached an executive branch official, such as Koskinen, who doesn't hold Cabinet rank."
Washington Post Editorial: "House conservatives want to impeach the IRS director. That would be a big mistake." [9/6]. "In any case, Mr. Koskinen was not leading the agency when the non-scandal took place — so lawmakers on a scandal hunt have attacked how he handled the aftermath…No matter that an inspector general investigation found no purposeful wrongdoing. House conservatives have pushed impeachment. Such a move would be unprecedented. Congress has impeached only one Cabinet member ever, in 1876. Lawmakers have never impeached an executive branch official below the Cabinet rank."
Meanwhile…
Associated Press: "CDC Director: Just a few weeks' of Zika funding remain" [9/9]. "The head of the government's fight against the Zika virus said that ‘we are now essentially out of money' and warned that the country is ‘about to see a bunch of kids born with microcephaly' in the coming months… President Barack Obama in February requested $1.9 billion to fight Zika, but Republicans controlling Congress acted slowly on the request. A Capitol Hill fight this summer stalled the Zika aid. Republicans attached restrictions on any of the money going to affiliates of Planned Parenthood in Puerto Rico."
Republican Priority #2: Punishing House Democrats for Historic Sit-in on Gun Violence
CNN: "House GOP leader vows punishment coming for Democrats over gun sit-in" [9/6]. "House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy vowed that Democrats who took control of the House floor in June and held a 25-hour sit-in to protest the lack of action on gun control measures will face punishment soon for breaking House rules."
Meanwhile…
Ron Klain in The Daily Beast: "Zika Exploded While Congress Went on Vacation" [9/12]. "So can we talk about what happened with Zika while [Congress was] away? First, it exploded in Puerto Rico… Second, Zika also had a big boom in the continental United States as well… Third, we had the first transmission of the disease, via mosquitoes, in the United States… We also found—for the first time ever—Zika in the mosqutoes flying around Florida, more indication of sexual transmission of the virus, evidence of male-to-male sexual transmission of Zika, and more suggestions that Zika is going to be with us for a while."
With nearly 19,000 Americans having contracted Zika, and with funding to fight the virus set to run dry, these are House Republicans' top priorities: writing the next chapter of their bizarre, dangerous impeachment obsession, and punishing House Democrats for demanding action on gun violence.