The Republican House is completely upside down

Lorraine Evanoff | 8:30 pm EST February 13, 2023

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The Republican party seems to give a lot of power to the lower ranks. Congress members are ranked by the number of terms served. For example, a House representative who served 10 terms as of January 3, 2021, outranks a member whose term began on or after January 3, 2001. According to experts, the capacity for a House member to push more bills through the legislative process increases after seven terms as much as it increases going from minority to majority party.

House and Senate rules give greater power to more senior members, such as what to caucus (which legislation to pursue), better committee assignments, and even better office space. However, rules for Congressional Republicans differ from Democrats. For Republicans, better committee assignments are not strictly associated with seniority. They are also associated with their fundraising and voting records. GOP corruption is a feature, not a bug.

There are currently 434 House seats, (due to a vacancy left by Virginia’s Democratic Rep Donald McEachin, who died in November 2022, special election to be held February 21, 2023). Among Democrats, Benny Thompson ranks 17th, Maxine Waters is 9th, Nancy Pelosi is 5th. Among Republicans, George Santos ranks 424th, Anna Paulina Luna is 406th, Marjorie Taylor Greene is 318th, Lauren Boebert is 302nd. Republican Kevin McCarthy is ranked 77th but ascended to Speaker of the House. This corrupt bunch has a lot of power with little seniority.

Out of 100 Senate seats, Democrats Dianne Feinstein ranks 3rd, Chuck Schumer is 9th. Republicans Chuck Grassley is 1st, Mitch McConnell is 2nd, Susan Collins is 8th, and Mitt Romney ranks 79th. Although considered a junior senator, Mitt Romney is a former Governor and won the Republican primary to run for President of the United States in 2012.

Yet, Romney’s very public confrontation of fraudster George Santos during the SOTU address had little impact. In response, Santos publicly hurled vicious insults at Romney, and the media quickly moved on. It turns out, newly elected Anna Paulina Luna, who won another heavily gerrymandered district from a Democrat in Florida is also a fraud. If high-ranking Congressional Republicans can’t even control who runs for high office, how can they legislate for Americans?

Lorraine Evanoff

Chicago native Lorraine Evanoff earned her degree in French from DePaul University then became a Certified Financial Manager. She worked as a finance exec in film production for seven years in Paris, then in Silicon Valley during the dot-com era, and later for various Hollywood production companies, notably as CFO of National Lampoon. She is currently living in Los Angeles with her husband.