So Brazil is having its own January 6. I don’t do breaking news on this blog, so you might want to check BBC or some other news source to see what’s happening.
The news this week was dominated by the House failing to elect a speaker for 14 ballots before Kevin McCarthy finally got through on the 15th. That was all very dramatic and historic, but not of any direct significance to the typical American.
The importance of that battle is more what it portends about future must-pass legislation. The House allowed itself to be frozen in place for four days. Fortunately, no crisis arose that required it to take action. (What if this had happened in 2021, when the House needed to join the Senate in counting electoral votes?)
The same people who blocked McCarthy for 14 ballots also want to block any increase in the debt ceiling, which needs to happen by this summer. It’s not clear yet what deals McCarthy made with them, but the signs all point to another debt-ceiling crisis like we had in 2011 and 2013. In case you’ve forgotten what that all entails, I’ll be posting “The Debt Ceiling: a (p)review”. It should be out before 10 EST.
I haven’t decided yet whether the various aspects of the speaker battle belong in a second featured post or will be incorporated in the weekly summary. If there is a separate post, it should be out 11ish. The summary will also include the January 6 anniversary, Biden’s trip to the border, the December jobs report, a pandemic update, a new water crisis in Jackson, a new record for police killings, and a few other things. It should be out between noon and 1.
The Weekly Sift 