627
Jeffries dragged for 'serious leadership problem' as Hegseth impeachment bid falls 7 votes short with 11 Dem no-shows (www.commondreams.org)
submitted 14 hours ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
112 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

“Jeffries didn’t even whip the vote,” one critic said about the House minority leader, who wants to be speaker. “This is why people want a stronger leader.”

As House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries seeks to become speaker when Democrats retake Congress in January, critics questioned his leadership Tuesday after the Republican-led lower chamber effectively blocked a bid to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth by just seven votes—an outcome that may have been averted if more Democrats showed up to vote.

The 211-204 procedural vote effectively torpedoed Congressman Thomas Massie’s attempt to impeach Hegseth by sending the outgoing Kentucky Republican’s resolution to the House Judiciary Committee, where it will likely gather dust during the remainder of the GOP-controlled congressional term.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 131 points 14 hours ago (9 children)

Jeffries didn’t even whip the vote. He told people to ‘vote their conscience,’ and 11 members of his caucus didn’t show up,” writer Laura Bassett wrote on social media. “This is why people want a stronger leader.”

Jeffries is a piece of shit and shouldn't be anywhere near any leadership position...

But whipping votes is the job of the second in line...

A job with the literal title "minority whip"...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Clark

We can't just focus on two popular names, we need to flush all the neoliberals out of leadership.

All that being said, votes just happen whenever with no warning. It's way past time that these votes need to be scheduled in advance. Instead of "vote starts now" at least "vote starts in 24 hour, exactly at ____ o'clock"

Once the main vote happens, there can be exceptions for follow ups, like "next vote in one hour"

The current way shit is done is fucking stupid

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 9 child comments
    •
  • [–] 33 points 14 hours ago

    That's why majority leader is an important position. Because they're SUPPOSED to keep this kind of childish bullshit from happening. If you elect adults, this doesn't happen. If you elect children (including those AARP age), you get the level of administration you voted for.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 24 points 11 hours ago*

    A job with the literal title “minority whip”…

    That is not the official title for that position, though it's commonly called that. The official title is Assistant Minority Leader, because the person in that position reports to the House Minority Leader. Katherine Clark shares responsibility for this failure, but the buck stops at the top, and that's Jeffries. It's literally part of Jeffries' job to tell the Assistant which votes should get whipped. The Assistant doesn't typically decide that on their own.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 54 points 14 hours ago (4 children)

    All that being said, votes just happen whenever with no warning. It's way past time that these votes need to be scheduled in advance. Instead of "vote starts now" at least "vote starts in 24 hour, exactly at ____ o'clock"

    Yeah, it’s worth noting because the vote was called right after many Dems left for a break. And then when the call went out for all the Dems to scramble back, many were too far away and couldn’t make it before the vote was held.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 9 points 10 hours ago

    Voting by our representatives should take place over the course of a week. They can use web cameras to discuss the topic, a publicly recorded version of Discord, and so on. I want my reps to drink coffee, talk out the issues, and be able to submit their vote without time pressure.

    Our systems are rooted in being physically present, yet make mental presence optional.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 2 hours ago (1 child)

    Is that a thing that can happen? Here in Australia our parliament is designed in such a way that the chamber (House or Senate) is no more than three minutes walk from every parliamentarian’s office and, when a vote is held where a formal division is required, they ‘ring the bells’ (literally a ringing bell with alarms in every office) for exactly four minutes so every parliamentarian has the ability to make it to the chamber for the vote before they lock the doors. To design a parliament or congress building in any other way seems insane to me.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •