Starting this week, Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) looks more like a European prime minister than a U.S. House of Representatives speaker. Partisan politics, at least as understood in the United States, has been turned upside down.
Prime Minister Johnson’s plan to sacrifice U.S. border security to pass $95 billion in foreign aid has been backed by a coalition of House Republicans and Democrats, overcoming opposition from voters and a majority of lawmakers. The bill is about to be submitted to the Senate. Despite the growing backlash, the new coalition government has even promised to protect Mr Johnson from his own party members.
Trust has been irrevocably broken, and Republican voters are far enough away to see from the driver’s seat.
Johnson’s plan began last week when he announced he would take the rare step of voting on four foreign aid and foreign sanctions bills, packaging them and sending them to the Senate. The process, called “MIRV” after a multi-warhead missile, has been used by speakers before (including three times by Nancy Pelosi and once by John Boehner), but the basic The aim is to bulldoze the leading opposition parties.
For example, Ms. Pelosi used the process in 2007 to combine Iraq war funding, which Republicans desperately wanted, with a minimum wage increase, which Democrats desperately wanted. More than a decade later, she took advantage of the system again. This time, it was to force more coronavirus relief funds to be used to fund broader government operations.
Now, Prime Minister Johnson is using MIRV to combine aid to Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, Sudan, and many other expenditures, corralling both the American right and the American left to the point of undermining American security. is pushing forward.
The only way Johnson could have done that is by forming a new coalition government outside the standard factions that have run the House of Commons in memory.
The first hurdle was getting it through the kindly named House Rules Committee, which determines how majority-voted items are brought to the floor, debated, and passed. This body, known as the “Chairman’s Committee,” is a fiercely guarded gateway, and what comes from it is traditionally seen as the party’s prerogative.
Three Republicans on the committee rebelled against the maneuver and voted against it, but four Democrats came to the chair’s aid and sent MIRV to the floor. This is the first time a minority party has passed a chair’s rule in committee since we began keeping records nearly 30 years ago.
The revolt quickly spread, and when the Republican rules were passed in the House, 55 Republicans voted against them. The final tally was 316 in favor and 94 against, with 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans introducing the bill for consideration and eventual passage.
Finally, on Saturday, he passed the Ukraine portion of the bill with 210 Democrats, 101 Republicans in favor, and 112 Republicans opposed.
The practical impact of all these ups and downs is that Johnson abandoned the broader conservative wing of the Republican Party, satisfied his minions in the U.S. intelligence community, and sent $95 billion overseas (to protect U.S. national security). While weakening the government, a new coalition government was formed.
It’s almost impressive to see the United States Party of America standing proudly exposed and blowing its trumpets. The expropriators, who have always existed and who have always cared more about their own spending than their constituents, make no attempt to hide it today. And they are very proud of it too.
“For Republicans and Democrats who believe that supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression is a generation-defining priority.” Politico wrote“Johnson’s movement…is almost Churchillian.”
“I know he takes things very personally,” said neocon Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas). Said Regarding Johnson’s decision. “He said to me… ‘I want to be on the right side of history.'”
The House of Representatives has long had a liberal parliamentary system. Mr. Johnson, for example, has used Democratic support to pass all of his major spending bills as speaker. In the Senate, outgoing Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says adding Republican votes to the Democratic coalition is key to his enormous influence.
But this month surpasses all of that. Trust has been irrevocably broken, and Republican voters are far enough away to see from the driver’s seat.
Mike Johnson could start this week with the title of Speaker of the House and leader of the narrow Republican majority. But in real life, he starts this week as leader of a newly declared centre-left majority.
