The Democrats were too timid to do it, but polls showed them getting killed—figuratively and perhaps literally—if they failed to act. So the party reluctantly followed the Squad and enforced the 14th amendment of the Constitution.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
The House of Representatives, led by a tired and uncharacteristically tongue-tied Speaker first refused to seat the Representatives who had supported the Insurrection. She brought forward a motion to expel the Insurrectionists and when that failed, went on with business as usual.
The House put forward and approved the standard emergency relief bill, with $50 for every American family and $1.5 trillion for wealthy corporations who donated to political campaigns. But no Republicans were called on to vote, nor to speak.
They sat in the chamber but they were silenced. Well, not completely. Some yelled and cursed and were removed by the Sargeant-at-Arms.
In the Senate, the motion to expel Cruz and Hawley and others was defeated. But then Schumer spoke. Senator Sanders glared at Schumer who seemed, at first, reluctant to say a word.
“The fourteenth amendment of the Constitution, to which every member of this body took an oath, says that Insurrectionists are not eligible to serve. We have Insurrectionists in this room today. If we are unable to remove them, we will silence them and continue to perform our duties in the spirit and to the letter of our founding documents.”
“In particular, Mitch McConnell, who violated both the spirit and the words of the Constitution by refusing to allow debate and a vote on the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court shall not be recognized to speak at any time within this sacred body. This holds for all the Insurrectionists including all of those who became Insurrectionists when they voted against expelling those guilty of sedition, thus giving aid and comfort to the enemies of these United States.”
The legislative branch of government continued to serve their wealthy sponsors. But at least they were better behaved. That said, a lot of people were pissed off about the ridiculously inadequate $50. This wasn’t over.