I rarely blog on Saturdays. Of my 755 blog posts, I doubt if more than two or three have been on a Saturday.
This week, I ran out of days. That has happened twice recently, so I’m afraid there is a trend developing.
I had originally planned today’s topic for Thursday, but it got pushed to Friday, and in the wee hours of Monday morning, it got moved to Saturday.
Today’s topic centers around a question I’ve seen a thousand times on social media and comments on my blog since January 20, 2025. I don’t begin to know the answer, but the other day I stumbled upon some information that shines a light on one of the ways the members of Congress who are trying to do something about the Trump Administration are being stopped in their tracks.
Why doesn’t the US Congress do something about Trump?
Many of us are at our wit’s end wondering why the Democrats and Independents in the US Congress aren’t doing more to stop all the destruction being wrought by the Trump Administration.
Today’s blog post focuses on some efforts by Democrats in the US House of Representatives and how those efforts have been thwarted.
I would still like to know why neither the Republicans nor the Democrats in the US Senate have not been able to do anything to stop Trump. It seems to me that people in the US Senate should all have the welfare and preservation of our democracy as a priority, but it appears that few of them do.
The following information somehow got past me on April 29, 2025, but the new media can’t report everything. Or perhaps I was on politics overload that day and just missed it.
There are 435 seats in the US House of Representatives. On April 29, there were 220 Republicans, 213 Democrats, and two vacancies. That’s a slim majority for the Republicans, but it is a majority and means that the Republicans chair every House committee and sub-committee. The system virtually guarantees that the Speak of the House will be of the majority party, which Representative Mike Johnson, of course, is. The Speaker of the House controls what bills can be brought up for a vote, so he holds tremendous power.
A monkey wrench thrown in the system on April 29, 2025
This is complicated and, to my knowledge, was not reported at the time by mainline news organizations.
Under the rules of the US House of Representatives, any legislator may introduce a “resolution of inquiry” for consideration. That inquiry is then referred to a committee. Although the majority party can stall and essentially block a resolution of inquiry from going beyond committee referral, a resolution of inquiry has special dispensation:
“If the committee to which such a resolution is referred has not reported the measure back to the House within 14 legislative days after its introduction, a privileged and non-debatable motion to discharge the committee of further consideration of the resolution becomes available on the chamber floor.”
In other words, if the committee to which an inquiry resolution has been referred does not report back to the full House within 14 legislative days after its introduction, it can then be introduced to the full House.
However, on April 29, 2025, an interesting and very pointed clause was included at the end of a House Resolution 354: “Each day during the period from April 29, 2025, through September 30, 2025, shall not constitute a legislative day for purposes of clause 7 of rule XIII.”
“What’s the big deal?” you may ask.
It means that none of the resolutions of inquiry put forth by Democrat members of the House will be considered until after September 30, 2025, if then… if ever. (For obvious reasons, no Republicans have put forth any resolutions of inquiry because they don’t want any Trump Administrations shortcomings to be investigated.)
Those resolutions of inquiry pertain to such concerns as the partial shutdown of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, Elon Musk’s possible conflicts of interest as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and the deportation of certain individuals to El Salvador.
Two specific House Resolutions that will now not be considered are H.R. 255 and H.R. 286.
House Resolution 255 calls for President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to turn over all communications regarding the Signal app interchange about US military strikes on the Houthis in Yemen that included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg.
House Resolution 286 directs President Trump to share all communications and documents related to DOGE’s use of artificial intelligence to mine federal agency records of “sensitive, personally identifiable information of American citizens.”
So those investigations are dead in the water, thanks to the Republicans in the US House of Representatives. The Republicans in the House have no interest in finding out why the US Secretary of Defense thinks it is acceptable to relay military scheduled bombing details via a less-than-secure social media app.
The Republicans have no interest in delving into Elon Musk’s gathering of American’s personal information in the name of “Government Efficiency,” even though their own personal information has probably been compromised.
And the Republicans in the House have no interest in investigating the “administrative errors” being made in the deportation of people to El Salvador.
The only reason the Republicans don’t want any of these issues to be investigated is that the findings might reflect poorly on Donald Trump. Therein lies the fear those US Representatives live with 24/7. When they assumed office, each of them pledged to defend the US Constitution but when it comes down to it, all they want to defend are Donald Trump and their own reelection prospects.
Ever since the party-system evolved in the US, politicians have connived and created new rules to steer legislation in ways to benefit themselves or to protect the President if he is from their political party. That’s a practice as old as humanity; however, when a democracy is as divided as ours is now in the United States, it seems particularly reckless for the party that has such a slim 220 to 213 majority in the House. (There are currently two vacancies, in case you’re wondering why 220 plus 213 only adds up to 433.)
If there is nothing to hide…
If the Trump Administration has nothing to hide, it seems they would welcome the investigations the Democrats have called for, but that is not to be. Not until after September 30.
The incident in New Jersey on Friday, May 9, 2025
Three Democrat members of the US House of Representatives (Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez, and LaMonica McIver, all of New Jersey) visited the Delaney Hall detention center in New Jersey on Friday, May 9. Members of Congress have the right to do that.
Also in the group was Ras Baraka, the mayor of the City of Newark, New Jersey.
The government’s side of the story is that Mr. Baraka was told he was trespassing and was asked to leave. He was there to protest the existence of the detention center which was constructed without the government obtaining a building permit.
Photographs show a heavy police response, with all officers wearing masks and sunglasses. Long story short, Mayor Baraka was arrested and held for a few hours.
The video shown on TV shows a lot of pushing and shoving by Homeland Security police officers. On Saturday, the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Laura McLaughlin, said the three members of Congress who were involved might be arrested. The investigation is ongoing.
Although this incident happened just a week ago, it seems like a month ago. It has disappeared from the headlines.
It’s as if Oprah is back, “Here’s a plane for you, and a plane for you…
I haven’t heard this mentioned by any of the main TV networks. It has been reported by the Associated Press and The Washington Post that the Department of Homeland Security wants to buy a new $50 million plane for Secretary Kristi Noem, other DHS officials, and top US Coast Guard officials to use.
$50 million here, $50 million there. Pretty soon they’re be talking about a lot of money. Isn’t it nice that the Trump Administration is getting rid of waste in government?
This just seems wrong to me on so many levels. First of all, what’s wrong with flying commercial or traveling by car? Government employees are not supposed to fly around in $50 million private jets. Period.
At least we now know what the Trump Administration meant when they said they were ushering in a “Golden Age.”
But what are the major TV networks reporting?
They are reporting on the Sean Diddy Combs trial, the Menendez brothers parole order, and the Kim Kardasian theft some years ago.
In this age of instant information, it is becoming more difficult for Americans to get any real, substantive, or important news.
I am becoming as worried about the press as I am about our government. When reporters are too distracted by bright shiny objects to inform us about the dismantling of our democracy, we have indeed lost perhaps the most important pillar of our society.
Until my next blog post
As I write this on Friday afternoon, President Trump is on his way home from the Middle East. I’d like to think he is returning to real life after his week of being wined and dined by the oil-rich countries in the Middle East. I fear this week of praise and opulence will only leave him on “a high” that will embolden him to even more frightening words and actions.
I hope you have a book that is so engrossing that you hated to put it down long enough to read my blog!
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
Janet
Janet's Writing Blog 