The government is on the verge of another shutdown, as the House has once again waited until the last second to push through legislation to keep the government funded and operational.
While things have calmed down for Speaker Johnson (R-LA), he is now facing the same exact challenge that ultimately cost McCarthy the gavel.
Talking Points…
- What led to McCarthy's ouster
- Johnson facing down McCarthy's ghost
- Analysis
At the heart of the reason as to why Kevin McCarthy was removed as the Speaker was his lack of spine when it came to standing up against Democrats when a shutdown was looming. The House Freedom Caucus made it quite clear that we needed to start trimming government spending or there would be pushback against McCarthy. McCarthy literally laughed off the threat, daring them to come after him, thinking he had enough support.
The second issue was omnibus legislation, which Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and the Caucus opposed. The media presented this as "far-fetched hard-right demands," but that is hardly the truth. Americans as a whole are sick and tired of seeing these massive bills presented, with members having only hours to read them before they come up for a vote.
McCarthy caved on all fronts, allowing Democrats to walk all over him again with a stop-gap funding bill that had people flipping tables in the GOP caucus. This, of course, led to Gaetz flooring the motion to vacate, which ultimately removed McCarthy from power. At the time, Gaetz stated:
"Kevin McCarthy is a feature of the swamp. He has risen to power by collecting special interest money and redistributing that money in exchange for favors.
"We are breaking the fever now, and we should elect a speaker who's better."
Speaker Johnson is hoping to avoid the same fate as McCarthy by presenting a Trump-backed plan to fund the government. He was very clear about announcing to the caucus that Trump was behind this proposed spending plan, which should help him with the caucus, but I am not sure how much good that will do him in getting the bill passed in the Senate. On the plan, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) stated:
"Certainly conservatives, spending hawks, frankly any Republican that doesn't want to give Democrats or the kind of…uniparty the pen in December, so we want to kick spending into the new year.
"Certainly kicking it to March gives us that benefit. And then we should have a robust fight over whether or not we should be very clear that only citizens are voting."
There is some resistance to this legislation, however, for various reasons. Again, one of the main complaints is that it goes against Johnson's vow to present single-issue legislation. There are also members of the GOP caucus who know that even if this bill gets passed in the House, if it does not pass the Senate, it's useless.
The biggest issue here is the inclusion of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, not to be confused with Joe Biden's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, and I am sure that is why the GOP uses that acronym in the hopes of fooling a couple of Democrats into supporting it. As a whole, the Democrat Party opposes the SAVE Act and the White House is against it, so even if this somehow got through the House and Senate, Biden would vote the bill just for that reason. Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) addressed this very issue, stating:
"It's disingenuous and dishonest to even do, because there's no one in Congress that believes that by attaching the SAVE act to the CR... we're going to get the SAVE Act passed."
As you guys know, I do not like omnibus spending, but I can live with it here to kick the can down the road until after the election, hoping that the GOP takes back the White House, keeps the House, and takes back the Senate. It's a roll of the dice, but I would be willing to make an exception for it just so the media does not blow a government shutdown out of proportion.
Again, we have to look at the big picture here, even if it means eating a little crow. The fact of the matter is that if the shutdown happens, the media will blame it on the GOP and then say how we can elect these people to office if they cannot even get a spending bill passed. It's a hit we don't need to take, and we are only two months away from being able to grab the keys to the White House back.
