Letter from Kathleen Palka

MAGA Republicans Bear Watching

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 percent 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. They’ve already shown their cards—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 January 6.

We must call out their lies at every turn and combat their far-right agenda to protect our freedoms and our democracy in 2023.

Kathleen Palka
Oneonta