Social Security
It’s Wednesday afternoon, and I’m writing this essay as I sit “on hold” for the Social Security Administration. I am a retired Ohio school teacher, and started teaching in the late 1970’s. We didn’t pay into Social Security. So I’m not qualified for those benefits, even after 35 ½ years of gainful employment. My retirement was supposed to be “all taken care of” by the State Teacher’s Retirement System – but that’s definitely a different story (What’s the Deal, The Ohio Way).
No, I’m waiting on Social Security (22 minutes and counting) so I can see if I’m eligible for free Medicare Part A. It’s another long story, that I won’t go into right now. But I do want to talk to the good people at Social Security, even if I have to wait listening to Muzak (is that still a thing?) for the next 22 minutes or even longer. That’s because there might be some kind of enrollment window I have to meet, and I’m not sure that those “good folks” will be working come the middle of November. While Social Security (and Medicare) benefits would continue if there was a government shutdown, I’m quite certain that the enrollment offices won’t be open. And if you miss a Medicare enrollment window, it costs a percentage for the rest of your life.
So the Muzak goes on – sometimes louder, like they’re going to pick up and sometimes quieter, like they’re lulling you to sleep. They might pick-up and hang-up before you can respond.
Choosing the Speaker
So why am I worried about a government shutdown? There is no Speaker of the House of Representatives, and hasn’t been for the past two weeks. Therefore, that branch of our government is unable to do any work.
The recording just reminded me that I’m one of fifty million receiving benefits, so they might be busy!
Ohio’s Jim Jordan just failed on his second attempt to win the Speaker’s gavel. He was a couple votes to the worse from Tuesday, and while he’s got a “full court” pressure campaign going on his fellow Republican Congressmen, I don’t think he’s going to change more of their votes. There’s a great line from 1776, the Musical, about John Adams; “…He’s obnoxious and disliked, you know that’s true”. And so is the Congressman from St. Paris, a little village here in Ohio somewhere between Urbana and Piqua in Champaign County. He brings all the finesse of the NCAA wrestling champion he was, pinning through any opponent to reach his goal. That works on the mat, not so much in the give and take world of politics.
Those Republicans who’ve been “pinned” have little respect for the man from St Paris. So I expect, regardless of how much Sean Hannity or even Donald Trump has to say; Jordan will never gain the 217 votes he needs to be the Speaker. What he can do is continue to drag out a process that will inevitably fail. He’s going to try again on Thursday.
Dogs and Cats
So what’s next? After the Jordan “run” is over, Thursday, Friday, or whenever he gives up; the Republican majority will go back into their conference and try to reach some other consensus. I’m sure every one of the Members now believes they have a shot at the position, though that’s an unlikely scenario. If they couldn’t coalesce around Steve Scalise, or keep Kevin McCarthy, and the right can’t have their “fever dream” of Jordan, what else can the Party, and the Nation, do?
Just crossed forty minutes on hold. They keep apologizing, but never answer!!
The next move will require something “completely different”. The Republicans, at least some of them, will have to cooperate with the Democrats, probably most of them. No Republican is going to vote for Democratic Leader Hakeem Jefferies, just as no Democrat would vote for Jordan. But as Hippocrates supposedly said; “Desperate times calls for desperate measures”. We are reaching the point where the House of Representatives is so desperate that Democrats and Republicans may need to work – shudder to say – with each other.
Give and Take
There is a compromise position available. Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry, a smartly bow-tied sub-leader of the Republican majority, is currently acting as Speaker Pro Tempore. His only power is to open and close the House sessions: he can’t bring a bill to the floor for a vote, conduct a vote on the bill, or declare a vote conclusive. He’s a place-holder until the majority party (Republicans) can vote in a new, real, Speaker. But that hasn’t happened.
What would Republicans “give” to allow the Speaker Pro Tempore to have more power? They would have to give something, because it would require some Democrats to agree to McHenry’s enhancements. And not all Republicans, surely not the 217 needed to pass anything in the House, agree that a “deal” should be made. It would take at least five Republicans, and every single Democrat, to pass the “deal”.
The Deal
And what would Democrats want? Three things for sure: funding for Israel (everyone agrees), funding for Ukraine (the vast majority agrees, though not the Republican hard-right), and a longer extension of the budget deal to keep the government open. That third issue is the “sticking point”. Most Republicans want deep cuts to social programs in the budget process (and more money to the Southern Border), even though the Senate won’t agree and the President won’t sign off. So those few, proud, Republicans who joined the Democrats in this deal would be politically at risk. They could, and probably would, be “primaried” by a more hard-right opponent in the spring. They might lose their seats.
And some Democrats might put their seats at risk as well. It’s not hard to see a hard-left opponent using cooperation with Republicans as a cudgel in the primary. It would require courage on both sides to go ahead with a “deal”.
I finally talked to a very nice lady at forty-seven minutes. There was another twelve minutes on hold as she investigated my situation and then, she told me I need to set up a phone appointment. I thought this was a phone appointment. After five more minutes –she sweetly told me there are no phone appointments available. I’ll get a letter in the mail, scheduling a meeting, phone or in person, sometime in the next seven to ten days. Meanwhile I have a “window” of two more months to enroll without penalty.
Hold Your Breath
Come this weekend, the American people are totally dependent on some members of the House of Representatives to take political risks. We are asking them for courage in governing. They need to put the good of the Nation ahead of their own political careers.
Could it happen? The eternal optimist in me says yes, that at least some of the members of Congress came to govern, to get something done, not just to hold the title. On the other hand, we’ve been waiting for a “Profile in Courage” for a while, and it hasn’t appeared yet, especially in the Republican Conference.
So don’t hold your breath.
I’m not holding my breath about the letter either. I am hoping it will tell me when my “meeting” is, before a government shutdown or at least within the two months. But I know better. Hopefully my first “47 minutes on hold” call will “count”!
