Readers across South Carolina express dismay over actions and agenda of new Congress
Beware the House
Everyone should be concerned about the new House majority, which couldn’t even select a speaker without historic chaos.
The House of Representatives is now controlled by MAGA Republicans. According to the Washington Post, over 70% of House Republicans are election deniers, and they will use their power to enrich their corporate donors and advance their extreme agenda — including threatening our freedom to vote, criminalizing abortion, and cutting Social Security and Medicaid.
Judging by how the election went to select Kevin McCarthy as the speaker of the House, we should all be concerned about their ability to govern. In their first act, the MAGA House Majority approved a rules package that gutted the nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics.
That’s just the beginning. MAGA cronies like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Steve Scalise and Marjorie Taylor Greene have indicated that their top priority in 2023 will be sham investigations into the Biden administration and other democracy defenders, including those charged with investigating the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6th.
We must call out their lies at every turn and combat their far-right agenda to protect our freedoms and our democracy.
Ronnie Burt, Columbia
OCE needed
Following the election of a new speaker of the House, Congress can now carry out the work of the American people.
One place they could start is by tackling an issue that Republicans, Democrats and everyone in between all agree on: corruption. Instead I was shocked to read that, as their first move after taking power, the new House majority approved a rules package that includes weakening the Office of Congressional Ethics.
The Office of Congressional Ethics is one of the only safeguards against corruption in Congress. It provides independent nonpartisan oversight and accountability, ensuring that members of Congress work for the people, not special interests. Over the years, it has done its job: shedding light on shady dealings by representatives of both parties.
Nearly every American wants less corruption, not more. What possible explanation could the new majority have for opening the door to less transparency and more corruption? Gutting this important ethics office will only make things worse.
Edgar Lopez, Bluffton
Dysfunction reigns
It appears MSNBC,FOX NEWS and CNN have become entertainment TV after broadcasting the election of the House Speaker.
The Republican Party with a 222-majority vote to elect one candidate running for speaker can accomplish the selection on one ballot, but the GOP took four days and 15 ballots to elect the only single candidate for speaker.
Some call this “politics.”
To me it is a sign of inept, dysfunctional, divisive action that is disturbing, embarrassing and most destructive.
Calvin Jordan, Beaufort
Loved mall
I’m so sad that Richland Mall will be demolished. I have so many happy memories of going there in the 1980s and ‘90s when my daughters had moved here. That’s one mall I’ll really miss.
Nancy C. Taylor, Columbia
