Donald Trump tried to give Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) a little boost regarding his legislation to prevent a government shutdown.
That plan, however, is being met with resistance from some of the party's more fiscally conservative members, and there is now concern that Johnson could meet the same fate as Kevin McCarthy.
Talking Points…
- Trump backs Johnson's plan to avoid government shutdown
- Johnson fears mutiny
- Analysis
Last week, Speaker Johnson unveiled his legislation to fund the government. However, it also included provisions for the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which Donald Trump supported. In fact, Trump suggested linking the SAVE Act to leverage the government shutdown to force Democrats to support the GOP legislation. If you are not familiar, the SAVE Act requires proof of citizenship to complete the voter registration process.
Even if Johnson could get that passed in the House, it would still have to pass the Senate and get the signature of Joe Biden, which is unlikely to get either. Actually, even having the bill passed in the House is unlikely, as it now sees resistance from the spending hawks in the party, including some members of the Freedom caucus. Among those putting up resistance is Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who stated:
"Speaker Johnson has this teed up in front of him. The 1% cut is in law. All we need is a one-year CR to queue it up. And when the April 30 deadline arrives he could even trade the cut for something. But he's afraid to even create a spending cut deadline."
Johnson is no fool, and he knows if the government shutdown happens, it will be the GOP that takes the blame. The media loves to help Democrats on this front, so the narrative will be that the GOP was pushing radical legislation and held the government funding hostage.
In order to avoid the shutdown, Johnson introduced a continuing resolution (CR), which has met resistance among Republicans who are tired of kicking the can down the road. And I understand this, but they really need to start thinking big picture here. First, as noted above, even though a government shutdown is not really all that big of a deal, the media and Democrats will play that up to hurt the GOP in the upcoming election. Second, if they do a CR now, and the GOP can take the House and Senate as well as the White House, passing the legislation in March is far better than passing it now.
There is growing support for blocking the CR, with Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) joining the resistance against the CR. Mills stated:
"I've made it clear…that I'll be a no on the CR. As far as I'm concerned, this is nothing more than messaging."
In total, there are now five Republicans pushing back against the CR, which led to Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) stating:
"I think we ought to have some conversation with those five.
"And I think those five ought to bear responsibility for blowing some opportunities that are right at hand."
You guys all know I am all for single-issue legislation, and generally speaking, I wouldn't say I like CRs, but this situation is a bit different from what we have seen in the past. There is just too much at stake in this election to play games like this, especially since we know how the media will portray the shutdown. Get the CR done, suck it up for a few months in the hopes that we win this election, then drop the hammer when we have complete control. That would be my recommendation to the caucus.
