{"id":24280,"date":"2022-11-26T11:53:51","date_gmt":"2022-11-26T19:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=24280"},"modified":"2022-11-26T11:53:53","modified_gmt":"2022-11-26T19:53:53","slug":"whos-to-blame-for-the-new-gop-house-majority-part-i-andrew-cuomo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/11\/26\/whos-to-blame-for-the-new-gop-house-majority-part-i-andrew-cuomo\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO’S TO BLAME FOR THE NEW GOP HOUSE MAJORITY, PART I: ANDREW CUOMO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SAT, 11\/19\/2022 – BY\u00a0CARL GIBSON<\/a> (Occupy.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even though Democrats maintained control of the US Senate for at least another two years in the midterm elections, the House of Representatives falling into Republican hands is a massive setback for any hope of good legislation passing until at least January of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Republican-controlled House doesn\u2019t just mean bills coming out of the Senate will be hopelessly gridlocked. Republicans will likely use their newfound subpoena power to flood the airwaves with footage of public committee hearings attacking Democratic officials and entertaining far-right conspiracy theories, as they did with Benghazi<\/a> and the Clinton Foundation<\/a>. Some potential hearings<\/a> in 2023 may focus on Hunter Biden, infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the potential impeachment of President Joe Biden or some of his most senior cabinet officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s even more worrisome is that whoever ends up with the Speaker\u2019s gavel will almost certainly reinstate<\/a> the most odious House Republicans back onto committees. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), who has trafficked in anti-Semitic<\/a> and racist<\/a> conspiracy theories (including the QAnon conspiracy theory<\/a> which alleges that the Trump administration was secretly fighting a cabal of pedophiles and cannibals), and who famously harassed<\/a> Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg in Washington, would be given a national platform to spew hatred if reinstated to House committees. Additionally, Rep. Paul Gosar, who lost his committee assignments after posting a video depicting himself killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a> (D-New York) with a sword, would also be back on his respective committees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ASSIGNING BLAME FOR THE BLUNDER<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

House Democratic leadership shouldn\u2019t be blamed for the Republicans\u2019 victory. For several years, House Democrats have passed approximately 400 bills<\/a> on issues that consistently prove popular with voters, like expanding voting rights, lowering prescription drug prices, and regulating gasoline price gouging, only for those bills to die in the Senate due to arcane procedures like the filibuster. The incredibly slim House majority can actually be ascribed to two factors: Racial gerrymandering (which part two of this series will explore in-depth) and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuomo\u2019s legacy won\u2019t just be for resigning in disgrace in the wake of numerous sexual misconduct allegations\u2014it will also be for paving the way for Republicans to eventually win enough Congressional seats in New York in order to win a razor-thin House majority. Gov. Cuomo leaned conservative, and was friendly<\/a> with the Republicans who once controlled the New York state senate due to his actions on property taxes and slowing government spending. His appointees<\/a> to the New York Court of Appeals were also largely tough-on-crime conservative prosecutors, prompting calls<\/a> for the New York senate to reject two of his appointees in 2021 following the George Floyd uprising (they did not).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2020 Census and subsequent redistricting process is typically favorable to the party that controls a specific state\u2019s legislature, and New York was no exception. But in April, Gov. Cuomo\u2019s conservative Court of Appeals judges rejected<\/a> the redistricting maps drawn by New York\u2019s Democratic majority, siding with Republicans who filed suit challenging the map\u2019s proposed Congressional districts for being too friendly to Democrats. This resulted in new Congressional districts being drawn that eventually displaced<\/a> then-Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-New York), one of the most progressive Democrats in the House. Much to the chagrin of Democrats who were hoping to secure power in New York with a gerrymandered map, Republicans ended up having a banner night during the November 8 midterm elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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HOW NEW YORK REPUBLICANS DELIVERED THE GOP A HOUSE MAJORITY<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The district Mondaire Jones ran for, NY-10, ended up with a competitive Democratic primary between New York Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou and wealthy Levi Strauss heir Daniel Goldman, who has a net worth of up to $253 million<\/a>. Goldman won the general election for NY-10, but Democrats elsewhere weren\u2019t as fortunate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n