House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) came up with a bright idea amidst backlash for selling Republican budget space to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (New York). Rather than funding the government at record levels for the rest of the fiscal year with nothing in return, they would agree to sell themselves out by funding only the short term. Also within 2 months.
How innovative!
Republicans may try to play games on the timing and process of capitulation, but the situation remains the same, knowing that Democrats fear the risk of a government shutdown.
Mr. Johnson has made it clear that he is even more vocally opposed to the Democratic Party than former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). hint One second before a partial government shutdown. Mr. Johnson is eager to give Democrats whatever they want. Every day 12,000 or even he 50,000 invaders could arrive at the southern border. In Mr Johnson's estimation, the most important thing is not to stop the invasion, but to ensure that the malign forces behind the invasion are not offended by the suspension of operations.
In addition to the deal he struck with Schumer to finalize the debt ceiling, Johnson returned from the Christmas break with a side agreement that undoes some of the cuts that were part of the bill Congress passed in May. Although the agreement did not address policy disagreements, Johnson made clear that he would be the first to relent whenever Democratic opposition to border policy triggered a government shutdown.
At that point, we lost our influence forever.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-Pennsylvania) gave Johnson a basic political lesson in a closed-door meeting last week. “Well, if you fear the consequences of not reaching an agreement more than your opponent fears the consequences of not reaching an agreement, you will lose every time,” Good said.
This sums up the crux of the failure orchestrated by the Republican Party. Republicans may try to play games on the timing and process of capitulation, but the situation is all the same as Democrats know that Republicans fear capitulation, even within days of a shutdown.
After an initial proposal for year-round funding was rejected by Liberal MPs, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new deadlines extending the two deadlines from January 19 and February 2 to March 1 and March 8 respectively. proposed a bill.
There are three reasons why Johnson's approach is foolish.
- There is no reason to think that Mr Johnson will be better prepared or willing to fight on a single policy issue or spending level in March than he is now. Either he's willing to fight or he's afraid he might not be able to reach a deal before the government shuts down. There is no middle ground.
- If they do, they should at least extend the deadline beyond April 30, which would trigger automatic 1% cuts across agencies under the debt ceiling law. This would give Republicans leverage in forcing Democrats to negotiate on at least some policy issues.
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson is perpetuating the backward strategy of a “ladder” approach to government funding. The whole purpose of not committing the entire federal government to one funding bill is to avoid the collateral damage of a government shutdown by failing to reach agreement on the most contentious issues regarding the most controversial government agencies and policies. is to keep it to a minimum.
As I pointed out in November, when Johnson first made this ridiculous deal, the best way to use a ladder approach was to use the most controversial departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services. It would have been to allow funding to the department to expire. beginning. This would have ensured that in the event of a government shutdown due to border violations, for example, DHS would be closed but the Department of Veterans Affairs would remain open.
Under Johnson's bill, the Veterans Administration would foolishly be the first to expire, along with the Department of Transportation, on January 19, which would generate panicky headlines about the burden on airports and air traffic controllers. That would have happened.
In fact, under Johnson's dry plan, the worst agencies won't be shut down for another two weeks.
By extending the deadline, Johnson should have corrected this reversal by arranging for funding to the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services to expire first. That would at least give Republicans extra leverage to keep funding more popular institutions while Congress fights over border issues, coronavirus relief, abortion, and the weaponization of federal law enforcement. will be obtained.
But that's not the case.
Unless we change the leadership of the Republican Party, we will continue this failed show until we can no longer enjoy the show.
