Now that the roll call votes are coming fast and furious, the freshmen are beginning to sort themselves out. The new Republicans in Congress are pretty much all cut from the same clothe-- a hopeless mess, barely worth mentioning or thinking about. But what we're seeing on the Democratic side of the aisle is that some freshmen are embracing Democratic values and principles and others are more comfortable slipping into the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. You can't make a judgement like this from one of two votes but there are already patterns emerging after just two weeks of the 115th Congress.Friday there was a vote to grant Trump's Defense Secretary, Mad Dog Mattis, a waiver to serve as Defense Secretary, despite Justin Amash, a libertarian-leaning Republican from Michigan, describing the waiver as a violation of the rule of law. 150 Democrats (+ Amash) voted against the waiver. 36 Democrats crossed the aisle for Mad Dog, mostly New Dems and Blue Dogs, and including these half dozen freshmen:
• Lou Correa (CA)• Charlie Crist (FL)• Josh Gottheimer (NJ)• Tom O'Halleran (AZ)• Jimmy Panetta (CA)• Tom Suozzi (NY)
Two of them-- Crist and O'Halleran-- aren't even Democrats at all, but opportunistic Republicans who were recruited by an insidious and desperate DCCC. Lou Correa's record in the California legislature clearly predicted he would be among the worst Democrats in Washington, just as he always was in Sacramento. And Gottheimer... this clown has already clearly marked out his territory as the corrupt Wall Street whore who will give Lou Correa a run for his money as to who will be the worst Democrat in the Class of 2016. And that, of course, brings us to the Wall Street votes. The Republicans and a handful of Wall Street-bribed Democrats are determined to roll back Dodd-Frank and the voting on the chipping away of its regulations has begun. There were two such votes on Thursday, one for Ann Wagner's SEC Regulatory Accountability Act and one for Michael Conaway's Commodity End-User Relief Act. Only 9 Democrats voted for the first (including 3 freshmen-- Gottheimer, Suozzi and Nevada conservaDem Jacky Rosen-- and only 7 for there second-- including freshmen Gottheimer and Suozzi.Right from the very beginning of the 115th Congress, the Republicans began by passing some rules to, among other things, wipe out executive orders President Obama had put in place to protect consumers, workers and the environment. Only the 3 most heinous Blue Dogs in Congress-- Kyrsten Sinema, Collin Peterson and Henry Cuellar voted with the GOP... plus one freshman: Josh Gottheimer. Another one of these anti-regulatory bills the GOP loves so much, this one from Bob Goodlatte, H.R. 5, passed with 5 Blue Dogs voting with the GOP, including one freshman Blue Dog, Stephanie Murphy from the Orlando area.Meanwhile, we can see some progressive rising stars developing as well, organizers and leaders who we will be able to count on to help resist Trumpism rather than collaborate with it, first and foremost Pramila Jayapal (WA)-- as far as I know, the only freshman staying away from the glamor of the inauguration-- and Jamie Raskin (MD). Both had clear records of progressive leadership and accomplishment in their respective state legislatures, so it was no surprise when they got to Washington and started blazing a courageous progressive trail there. Another freshman who is already taking strong, principled stands was less predictable, Ro Khanna, from the Silicon Valley seat that Mike Honda occupied for so many years.I was surprised when Honda, who Khanna defeated, asked his allies and supporters to have an open mind towards Khanna and watch him in action. We took that seriously and have been rewarded by discovering someone who seems determined to do the right thing for his constituents and for the resistance. Yesterday, he told me he was dismayed about how so many New Dems were breaking ranks and backing conservative objectives that fly in the face of Democratic values and principles and denigrate the legitimate interests of working families. "Democrats," he told me, "need to speak with one voice. It's wrong for the New Dem Caucus to have their own negotiations with Paul Ryan. We cannot let Republicans use a divide and conquer strategy. We need to be unified under Nancy Pelosi's leadership to oppose any efforts at repeal and let our leaders negotiate without cutting side deals."And sure enough, when John Yarmuth's budget proposal came up for a vote Friday as part of the debate over repealing the Affordable Care Act, 37 conservaDems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- primarily New Dems and Blue Dogs-- crossed the aisle and voted with Paul Ryan. Those 37 included 9 freshmen, mostly the by-now usual suspects:
• Lou Correa (CA)• Charlie Crist (FL)• Josh Gottheimer (NJ)• Stephanie Murphy (FL)• Tom O'Halleran (AZ)• Jacky Rosen (NV)• Brad Schneider (IL)• Darren Soto (FL)• Tom Suozzi (NY)
These are the ones we'll have to keep a close eye on going forward, the ones who may earn primaries in 2018.Darren Soto was a bad state legislator-- and he's proving himself to be a bad congressman as well
