Sometimes it really is House of Cards

Also, the latest on quantum computers

Sometimes it really is House of Cards

I spend a lot of time telling people that Congress is not like House of Cards. 

It’s not super dramatic. It’s not all backstabbing and fancy revenge plots that hinge on some big surprise.

But last week was basically House of Cards. All that stuff happened.

Ten days ago, Speaker McCarthy made a deal to lift the debt ceiling and avoid default.

That deal made his right-flank really mad because they wanted all these spending cuts and they didn’t get them.

So the question coming out of all that was whether they would retaliate.

And they did.

We were all on the House floor early last week for a simple vote - it’s the procedural vote that lets us move forward and vote on other stuff.

And this vote always passes. Hasn’t failed once in the last 20 years.

So I voted and then was walking out of the chamber and I heard all this commotion behind me so I went back and sure enough, the right-flank had waited until the last possible second and then voted against it and the vote failed. 

Which meant we couldn’t take any other votes. Everything was canceled and we all flew back to our districts.

The right-flank has the votes to block just about everything going forward and right now they’re holding that over the Speaker. We came back to D.C. yesterday and… votes were canceled again. As I write this, we’re waiting to hear if they’ve lifted the blockade.

But in a way, this could be good news for the Speaker.

Why? Because even though he’s got a revolt on his hands, they’re not calling for a vote to end his speakership, which they could.

The fact that they’ve chosen this path instead of just going for his head probably means they’re not really interested in replacing him.

What they’re really interested in is embarrassing him and reminding the rest of us that they bring everything to a halt whenever they want. Once that’s done, they’ll lift the blockade and we’ll all carry on. I expect that to happen today.

The latest on quantum computing

I recently attended a Science, Space, and Technology Committee meeting on the latest advances in quantum computing and I want to report back - not only because it’s fascinating, but also because it’s a more optimistic take on Congress than the one you just read.

As a quick background, after decades of research there’s now a completely different way to make computer chips that uses quantum mechanics - which we don’t fully understand on a theoretical level, but can still harness.

We now have the tantalizing potential to see a truly massive leap in computational power within the next decade that could unlock a range of breakthroughs in science, medicine, and basically anything else humanity considers an information-based problem.

(A brief technical explanation: a regular bit must be either a 1 or 0, but a quantum bit can be in multiple positions at once, which enables exponentially more powerful computation. However, the conditions that are needed to allow for a stable quantum state are incredibly precise and very, very cold.)

We met with a panel of experts and I asked them to give me a rough sense of the gap between where things stand today and the level at which we’d see practical applications. They told me that later this year we should have chips with 1,000 “qubits” (which is the quantum version of the regular “bit” we know from our current computers) and we might need to hit 100,000 qubits to see practical applications. 

Closing that gap involves solving a wide range of engineering problems, but we’re seeing steady progress. It looks like Congress is going to continue to support the effort, which is good.

Aside from the occasional science story in the news, quantum computers will almost never cross your radar, but they’re probably going to end up impacting our lives in dramatic ways - as will artificial intelligence.

Speaking of which, you’re going to hear a lot from me about A.I. starting in a few weeks. It’s been a focus for our office over the last two months. I’m working with a member of the other party to propose some legislation. Lots to share with you.

Best,

Rep. Jeff Jackson (NC)

P.S. - Surprisingly enough, I’m playing in the congressional baseball game tomorrow. I haven’t played organized baseball since middle school, but when I told them I’d never had a knee replacement I was immediately drafted. Wish me luck.