Dem
51
GOP
49
The drama in the House is not the only soap opera in town. Republicans in the Senate also know a thing or two about using committee assignments to do a little score-settling. Although, in this case, it's Republicans turning on their own.
Specifically, readers will recall that Sen Rick Scott (R-FL) challenged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for leadership in the upper chamber. Scott's loudest cheerleader in that election was Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT). Their machinations did not come close to succeeding; McConnell kept his job by a vote of 37-10.
McConnell does not appreciate disloyalty. And, as science tells us, turtles "possess significant long-term abilities when it relates to memories that could affect their survival." So, as the Minority Leader was working out committee assignments, he decided it was time for some punishment. Consequently, both Scott and Lee were dumped from the powerful Senate Commerce Committee yesterday. And, just to add a little extra insult to injury, McConnell advised the duo via text message.
Scott, for his part, is furious, and griped that he was probably the most qualified member of that committee. "I probably ran the biggest company almost any senator in the history of the country has ever run. I was governor of the third-biggest economy in the United States, Florida. I've got a business background." Somehow, the Senator forgot to mention that his fortune was built on a foundation of Medicare fraud; his company was fined $1.7 billion, the largest healthcare fraud penalty in U.S. history.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway here, however, is not that politicians on both sides of the Capitol are playing committee games. It's that Scott, like Cruz, is a huge jerk who is loathed even by members of his own party. Keep that in mind the next time Scott starts making noises about running for president. (Z)