If there’s one thing that can be said about Republicans, it’s that they have the uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
The GOP narrowly pulled off a takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives in the recent midterm elections, in part by riding a public wave of exasperation with Democrats’ incessant wokeism. But now that they have power, Republicans are subtly moving to keep that wokeism alive.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), a close ally of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and who is serving as the new chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, recently put out a press release announcing his committee’s six subcommittees.
Contrary to what Americans might expect from the ostensibly conservative and constitutionalist party, McHenry’s announcement made clear that every single one of those six subcommittees will make it a top priority to advance “diversity and inclusion.”
For example, the subcommittee on capital markets, helmed by Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), has as its aim “identifying best practices and policies that continue to strengthen diversity and inclusion in the capital markets industry.”
And Rep. Bill Huizenga’s (R-Mich.) subcommittee on oversight and investigations is tasked with “overseeing all agencies, departments, programs and matters within the Financial Services Committee’s jurisdiction, including agency and programmatic commitment to diversity and inclusion policies and best practices.”
These emphases clash with the stance of the Republican National Committee, which published an entire article ahead of the midterms blasting Democrats for “campaigning on woke, radical policies rather than focusing on fighting inflation or making communities safer.”
They also fly in the face of a statement McHenry himself made to the Washington Free Beacon, saying: “For four years, Democrats wasted the valuable and limited time and resources of our committee to push burdensome mandates on American job creators. Democrats’ goal was to name and shame companies until they parroted their woke social agenda.”
According to McHenry’s press release, even Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer’s (R-Mo.) subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions will “continue to strengthen diversity and inclusion within the national security and international finance industry.” The other subcommittees are described with similar “diversity and inclusion” language.
As the Free Beacon notes:
Although one of McHenry’s first acts as chairman was to dissolve the Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion established by his predecessor Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.), the task set out by that subcommittee now appears to have bled into the entire committee’s work. Each of those subcommittees, all led by Republicans, includes the term “diversity and inclusion” in the brief description of its jurisdiction.
McHenry also established a new committee, the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Inclusion. Under the leadership of Arkansas Republican French Hill, the subcommittee is tasked with “identifying best practices and policies that continue to strengthen diversity and inclusion in the digital asset ecosystem.”
Per a report by Politico, McHenry’s dedication to diversity is of such magnitude that he actually struggled with the decision to ax the Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion.
Not surprisingly, McHenry’s dedication to his predecessor’s woke agenda has not managed to satisfy his Democratic colleagues across the aisle. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who chaired the Financial Services Committee before McHenry, took aim at Republicans.
“Their pledge to make diversity a component of each sub-panel is simply insufficient,” Waters said. “We know that a diversity and inclusion strategy with no tangible goals, accountability measures, or a senior point of contact, rarely leads to significant impact.”
She added, “My Democratic colleagues and I will continue to hold our Republican colleagues accountable and do the work to make sure diversity and inclusion is at the forefront of our agenda because as we’ve proven these past four years, diversity matters, and we will not be silent on this important topic.”
Truly, the new boss is very much the same as the old boss. Sadly, Republicans’ bucking on the issue comes at a time when moral courage is needed more than ever to combat the Left’s agenda of forced wokeism.
As The New American previously reported, the Biden White House is awarding over $550,000 in public grant money to create an A.I. model to be used in rapidly detecting “microaggressions” across social media.
The grant was made through Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and gives researchers at the University of Washington the funds to develop a technology that would ostensibly shield internet users from discriminatory language. To date, the researchers have already received $132,000 for this purpose, with a total of $550,436 expected to be given to them over the course of the next five years.
Specifically, the researchers’ work claims to be developing machine-learning models capable of reading through social media content to identify “implicit bias” and microaggressions, the latter being defined as language that might offend members of “marginalized” groups.
McCarthy was elected speaker after the 15th round of voting earlier this month, overcoming opposition from conservative members of the GOP caucus dissatisfied with the supported party leader’s record. But with the establishment firmly behind McCarthy and even President Donald Trump endorsing him, the Californian’s accession to the speakership was all but assured.
If McCarthy and those who support him want to show that the base’s fears about his speakership were misplaced, they have yet to do a good job of it. So far, his leadership is giving the impression that the House under his gavel will simply be more of the same.
