Of course.

Why wouldn’t Congressman Cline support the uncompromisingly hard-right, subpoena-dodging, election-denying, credibly-accused, Trump-defending Jim Jordan for House Speaker?

In recent weeks Congressman Cline repeatedly claimed that nobody wanted a federal government shutdown. (In fact, the Republican congressman for our neighboring district made plain that he did want a shutdown).

But when Cline had a chance on Saturday to vote to prevent a shutdown for at least 45 days, he joined 89 other House Republicans to vote NO.

(The bill to avert the shutdown passed with overwhelming Democratic support in the House and the Senate and was signed by President Biden.)

Unlike Cline, Sen. Tim Kaine worked hard to prevent a shutdown because he understood it would have grave consequences for people throughout Virginia– including Cline’s Sixth Congressional District, which includes most of Shenandoah National Park.

Ben Cline was willing to sacrifice the economic health of his constituents to suit his rightwing Freedom Caucus agenda.

Congressman Cline just can’t quit self-styled Leninist Steve Bannon.

Seven months after his last appearance, Cline was again a guest on Bannon’s conspiracy-friendly podcast “War Room.”

Cline stuck close to his far-right Freedom Caucus talking points.

Once again there was the irony of Cline complaining about the Biden administration’s alleged lack of cooperation with Congressional committees while on a podcast hosted by a man who was sentenced to four months in prison and a $6,500 fine after he was convicted for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Bannon is free pending appeal.)

Once again there were the reflexive digs at Nancy Pelosi (who is no longer in a leadership position in the House of Representatives) and complaints about “woke and weaponized” government.

To avoid a government shutdown which Freedom Caucus members are threatening, Cline said, the Commerce Department, the Education Department and the Labor Department “need to be defunded just a lot.” Someone needs to ask him what he means by “just a lot” and which programs need to be defunded.

On Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s announcement of an impeachment inquiry on President Biden, Cline claimed that the evidence of criminality by Biden is “overwhelming.”

But as CNN reported after fact-checking McCarthy’s claims: “House Republicans have not presented any proof that Joe Biden ever profited off his son’s business deals or was influenced while in office by his son’s business dealings.” Even many of Cline’s fellow Republicans in the Senate think it’s a bad idea.

Here is Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro talking about Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville’s hold on military promotions:

“For someone who was born in a communist country, I would have never imagined that actually one of our own senators would actually be aiding and abetting communists and other autocratic regimes around the world,” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro — a Cuban-born Navy veteran — said Tuesday during an interview on CNN alongside Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth.

“This is having a real negative impact and will continue to have a real negative impact on our combat readiness,” Del Toro added.

Tuberville’s eight-month hold has forced more than 300 officers to extend their current tours or be sent on temporary assignments to wait out the blockade, according to the Pentagon. It’s also stifled any movement up the ranks for junior officers, freezing the status of even more military members and leaving military families in limbo.

Despite criticism from members of his own party, Tuberville has pledged not to back down until the Pentagon overturns its new policy of reimbursing service members who travel to another state to obtain abortions and other reproductive care.

None of that criticism is coming from Congressman Cline, who in March– obviously inspired by Tuberville– demanded that no funds be used for military officers “until the Biden Administration reverses its agenda of making the Pentagon and the Department of Defense an abortion facilitator.”

I’m willing to take Secretary Del Toro’s word for it: Tuberville– who never served in the military– is willing to aid and abet communists to serve his pro-forced birth agenda. And given the identical position of Cline (who also never served), we can draw our own conclusions about him.

No, Congressman Cline. “They” are not coming for our ceiling fans. “They” are not coming for our cars or our gas stoves either.

In accordance with the law, the Department of Energy is proposing energy efficiency standards that would take effect in 2028 for new ceiling fans. These standards “would save hardworking taxpayers up to $369 million per year, while substantially reducing harmful air pollution” according to a DoE spokesman.

“We are not coming for your ceiling fans. Has anyone lost their gas stove yet?” Florida State Representative and Democrat Jared Moskowitz posted.

Ben Cline’s friend whom he was proud to support has been indicted by the Fulton County Grand Jury on racketeering and other charges, including conspiracy to commit election fraud, conspiracy to commit computer theft and conspiracy to defraud the state.

The New York Times reports:

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia was voting on the floor of the House on the morning of June 23 when she saw her name trending on Twitter.

Ms. Greene, a high-profile, right-wing Republican who is no stranger to trending online, flicked through her feed and learned from the internet that two hours earlier, her colleagues in the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus had voted to remove her from the group. Just then, an emissary from the caucus, Representative Ben Cline, Republican of Virginia, approached Ms. Greene. He asked if she would attend a one-on-one meeting with its chairman, Representative Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania, who had been waiting to officially announce her ouster until he had spoken to her in person.

Ms. Greene balked. She couldn’t make the time, she said, because she had a meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s staff to discuss her legislation to ban transgender surgeries for children, an issue, she told Mr. Cline pointedly, “which the Freedom Caucus doesn’t care about.”

Ms. Greene and Mr. Perry never spoke.

Last week, after voting on a long series of amendments, the Republican majority in Congress (including Congressman Cline) passed— mostly along party lines– the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Taking every opportunity to fight the culture war, the Republicans approved amendments banning reimbursements to soldiers who need to travel out-of-state for abortions if they are stationed in states that outlaw the procedure; banning payments for soldiers to undergo transgender surgery or hormone replacement therapy; and gutting programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the military.

The House version of the NDAA stands no chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

But several amendments, because they failed, flew under the radar. I want to call attention to three in particular:

• An amendment by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene to cut $300 million in funding to Ukraine.

• An amendment by Republican Andy Ogles to cut off lend-lease authority to Ukraine.

• An amendment by Republican Matt Gaetz to prohibit security assistance to Ukraine.

On all three amendments, Cline voted YES. He voted to cut off all US military assistance to Ukraine in its fight against brutal Russian aggression. He and the other Republicans who voted this way did exactly what Russian dictator Vladimir Putin wanted.

Besides Republican Bob Good, Cline was the only Virginian in the House to support this effort to betray Ukraine and enable Russia to crush a free, independent and democratic country.

This isn’t the first time Cline has voted in agreement with Putin. Last year he was one of only 18 House members to vote NO on expressing support for Finland and Sweden to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

What makes this all the more disgraceful is that Cline actually bragged in an email to supporters last year that he was one of “several” House members being sanctioned by Russia.

In fact, as I noted at the time:

What Cline didn’t mention is that the “several” were in fact 398— ranging from Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Republicans like Marjorie Talyor Greene.

Even North Carolina Republican Madison Cawthorn— who has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “thug” and the Ukrainian government “incredibly evil”– is on the sanctions list.

In fact the only reason some House members (such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi) are missing from the list is that Russia had previously sanctioned them.

The sanctions are in apparent retaliation for the US government sanctioning more than 300 members of the Russian Duma in March.

Now that Cline is voting precisely the way that Putin wants him to vote, I doubt he’ll end up on any more Russian sanctions lists. Rather, he probably would be a most welcome guest at the Kremlin.

Congressman Cline is one of the House Republicans who has been engaged in an unsuccessful months-long effort to expose supposedly criminal business dealings by the Biden family.

Among those he has cited as a source is think tank director Gal Luft, who has repeatedly accused President Biden and his family of corruption.

Now The New York Times reports:

In an eight-count indictment, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York accused Gal Luft, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, of violating the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Agents Registration Act in brokering arms deals between Chinese companies, Iran and countries in the Middle East.

Mr. Luft, promoted by some congressional Republicans as a keystone witness in their efforts to show corruption by the Biden family, is a fugitive from justice. He was detained by law enforcement officials in Cyprus in February in connection with the indictment, but fled after being freed on bond while awaiting extradition. If convicted, he faces up to 100 years in prison.

“He subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies,” said Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, adding: “He acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian oil, and he told multiple lies about his crimes to law enforcement.”

…..

Mr. Luft, prosecutors said, helped Chinese arms manufacturers sell anti-tank launchers, grenade launchers and mortar rounds to Libya (he referred to them as toys in communications obtained by the government), bombs and rockets to the United Arab Emirates and military drones to Kenya. He told an associate that the unwillingness of U.S. officials to sell weapons to Kenya provided them with an “opportunity” for profit, prosecutors said.

He also carved out a role as a middleman in transactions to broker sales of oil from Iran, in violation of U.S. sanctions, ordering a business associate to refer to the products as Brazilian petroleum, the government charged. In one instance, Mr. Luft received a letter telling him explicitly that a shipment of the oil was Iranian but that it should be “be presented as U.A.E. origin without Iranian papers,” according to the filing.

Will Cline continue to praise the supposed bravery of a fugitive from justice who is credibly accused of helping China to sell arms and Iran to sell oil?

On June 27, the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act took effect.

The law requires employers to provide accommodations for pregnancy-related medical conditions, everything from pregnancy to childbirth to postpartum recovery. 

The law also protects workers from retaliation after making those requests and from being forced into taking unpaid leave.

Examples could be giving a worker additional time to sit, rest, drink, eat or use the bathroom. It could mean relaxing some policies to allow workers a stool to sit on, allow them to wear maternity clothing or allow a water bottle in an area where it’s not typically allowed. Schedule-wise, accommodations could include time off for prenatal appointments, accommodating for morning sickness or allowing remote work if available. 

For workers with jobs that require significant manual labor, transferring workers to light duty or temporarily transferring them to a less physically demanding job would constitute an accommodation.

As previously reported here, the “pro-life,” “pro-family” Congressman Cline vote NO when it came up for a vote in May 2021.

But mysteriously, Cline voted YES on the exact same bill in September 2020. As I wrote after his 2021 NO vote:

So why, between September and May, did Cline change his mind and decide that he didn’t want to protect the rights of pregnant workers after all?

Ask him. Please.

Please.