Republicans in the United States House of Representatives have passed an annual defence funding bill that highlights the party’s conservative priorities – and sticking points – in advance of the 2024 election season.
Democrats have decried the bill approved on Friday, which included anti-LGBTQ, anti-diversity and anti-abortion rights provisions. It passed by a 219 to 210 largely party-line vote in the majority Republican chamber. Four Democrats voted in support of the bill.
“With the narrowest of majorities – five seats – in the House, Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy needed near-unanimous support for the more than 1,200-page bill. That forced him to appease ultra-conservative members of the party, who pledged not back down in negotiations.”
Is working with moderates of a different brand of party really worse than kowtowing to the demands of extremists in the same brand of party as you? Because it seems that would be the obvious way to get moderate bills passed if you were moderate and that is what you really wanted.
It’s worse because McCarthy is also an extremist, he’s just more politically savvy and knows how unpopular the extreme agenda actually is. He knows that he needs to sneak this stuff in under the radar and through unelected processes so the people don’t get a say in the outcome.
Instead he’s forced to advance the extreme agenda faster than he wants, but he still wants everything in this bill.
Specifically,
The amendments pushed through by House Republicans included gutting diversity, equity and inclusion programmes at the Department of Defence. It banned flying pro-LGBTQ flags at military bases and ended funding for transgender-related medical services.
In perhaps the most telling reflection of the times, the bill also included a provision that would eliminate a Pentagon policy that offers time off and travel reimbursement to members of the military who must travel across states to receive an abortion.
Not being able to freely express yourself on military bases feels very Don’t Ask Don’t Tell: “you’re allowed to be gay and serve, but you have to stay closeted to do so”.
It’s the same point as always. Try to force the “undesirables” either into an underclass or to leave.
As was the case with DADT and as looks to be the case now: they’re rather them just stay closeted, they don’t want them to leave. If they leave, they have one less expendable body to throw around.
