Without Trump’s Solid Backing, MAGA Mike Would Be A Back-Bencher Again... Instantly

There Will Always Be Republicans Who Want To Shut Down The Government

I suspect if there was a secret vote in the House GOP Conference to pick the craziest member, Victoria Spartz— who has one of the worst staff turnover problems in Congress— would win. She babbles incessantly, more often that not, without discernible point. Early last year she announced she was retiring but, by the end of the year she had changed her mind, just 5 days before the filing deadline. She managed to win the primary 39.1% to 33.2% against her main opponent in a 9-person race. When she got back to Washington after winning reelection in November, she demanded to be put in the Ways and Means Committee and when she was turned down, she announced, on Monday, she would no longer caucus with the GOP or serve on any committees. The House Ethics Committee is investigating her for “abuse,” “general toxicity,” and “rage” towards her staff. No one has any idea if she plans on voting for MAGA Mike or not.

Thomas Massie (R-KY), who co-sponsored Marjorie Traitor Greene’s attempt to dump MAGA Mike last April, doesn’t. If those two go through with their threat and if MAGA Mike loses one more member of the conference, he’ll lose the first speaker vote. And there are several possibilities, even with Gaetz nowhere in sight. There’s a lot of anger in the conference, starting with a deal MM struck yesterday with the Democrats— which means the extremists can’t hold him up since he’s got the Democratic votes he needs to pass a CR, laden with the kinds of goodies that drive the members of the House Freedom Caucus insane.

Olivia Beavers, Meredith Hill and Jennifer Scholtes reported that MAGA Mike and Hakeem Jeffries and their teams “have struck a bipartisan deal to push the government funding deadline to March 14 and deliver more than $100 billion in emergency aid for disaster relief, House Republican leaders told their conference Tuesday morning. The year-end package, which will be the last major legislation Congress clears this year, is expected to include a bill to restrict U.S. investment in China, an extension of expiring health programs, a one-year extension of the farm bill and $10 billion in economic assistance to farmers. The bill will also OK year-round and permanent E15 ethanol sales nationwide.”

MAGA Mike had been promising to release the 1,547-page bill’s text but “he is not promising to allow lawmakers a full 72 hours to review the measure ahead of passage… It was finally released early, early this morning. If the House passes the package tomorrow, it will land in the Senate just ahead of the Friday night government shutdown deadline… The inclusion of a policy that would approve increased ethanol sales is a major win for Republicans in corn states, and a large group of GOP senators strongly backed the move, helping Midwest Republicans in the House push the measure into the package. But many House conservatives, who had urged Johnson to forgo the policy and overwhelmingly oppose ethanol subsidies, are livid about its inclusion.”

Like we saw a few days ago, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer gave a commitment to give MAGA Mike as many votes as he needs to pass it in return for— instead of anything Americans want, like raising the minimum wage— Haitian tariff exemptions. The CR includes a sneaky pay raise for members of Congress though (from $174,000 to $243,300). If the median American’s wage ($59,228) were to go up on the same scale, it would be $93,156. Maybe they should have been working on that instead.

Meanwhile, Mychael Schnell and Emily Brooks reported that members of MAGA Mike’s conference “are fuming” at the way he’s handling the “end-of-year measure to extend government funding until March, saying it is more like a sprawling omnibus— which they abhor— than a simple temporary funding measure. The continuing resolution (CR), which will keep government funding at current levels through March 14, is also set to include $100.4 billion in disaster aid for those affected by hurricanes earlier this year and $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers, lawmakers said, among other provisions. ‘It’s not a CR, which is a continuation of the budget. It’s turning into an omnibus,’ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said.”

All stripes of congressional Republicans are pissed over at the content of the bill, the process he followed to craft it, and how he plans to bring it to the floor for a vote. Eric Burlison, an extremist freshman— soon to be sophomoric— could be the third member to vote against MM becoming speaker. Here’s his take: “It’s a total dumpster fire. I think it’s garbage. This is what Washington, D.C., has done. This is why I ran for Congress, to try to stop this. And sadly, this is happening again.”

Perennial malcontent Chip Roy (R-TX) agrees: “We get this negotiated crap, and we’re forced to eat this crap sandwich. Why? Because freaking Christmas is right around the corner. It’s the same dang thing every year. Legislate by crisis, legislate by calendar. Not legislate because it’s the right thing to do.”

“Johnson,” wrote Schnell and Brooks, “received an earful of criticism during a closed-door House GOP conference meeting Tuesday, where he briefed members on the emerging details of the government funding package. The gripes are not just coming from hard-line conservatives. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who represents a district won by Biden in 2020 and Harris last month, stood up during the GOP conference meeting and told Johnson the government funding process has not been member-driven, according to a source in the room. Lawler also aired grievances about Democrats playing a key role in the funding process, telling Johnson at one point, ‘I’m not a fucking Democrat…This is no way to due process… This is bullshit… Look, why are you telling me, if I want something I need to go talk to [Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer], and [House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries] hasn’t blessed this.’ At one point, when Johnson told his members that the CR was a collaborative effort that had committee involvement, Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO), the chair of the Ways and Means Committee, responded “not true,” according to a source in the room. Smith declined to answer questions from reporters as he left the meeting.”

Johnson, for his part, sought to sell the emerging package to his conference during the meeting, claiming to members that Schumer negotiated in bad faith and that Democrats did not secure any wins in the bill, another source in the room told The Hill.

After the gathering, the Speaker downplayed concerns from Republicans who said the bill is akin to an omnibus.

“This is not an omnibus, OK? This is a small CR that we had to add things to that were out of our control,” Johnson said in a press conference. “These are not man-made disasters. These are things that are— the federal government has an appropriate role to do.”

“So, I wish it weren’t necessary. I wish we hadn’t had record hurricanes in the fall. And I wish our farmers were not in a bind so much that creditors are not able to lend to them. We have to be able to help those who are in these dire straits,” Johnson said.

While details about the final product are beginning to emerge, several key questions remain, including whether Johnson plans to give members at least 72 hours to review the legislation and whether he intends to move the legislation through regular order with a procedural rule rather than under the fast-track process of suspension of the rules. The latter requires support from Democrats to achieve a two-thirds majority for passage, but bypasses a procedural vote that conservatives have used to hold up legislation.

Johnson was noncommittal about allowing 72 hours for review during the closed-door conference meeting, a source in the room told The Hill. During a press conference minutes later, however, the Speaker expressed support for the 72-hour rule and said he would try to move the legislation through a regular rule process.

“I believe in the 72-hour rule,” Johnson told reporters. “I believe we ought to try to pass this on a rule, go through regular process. We’re committed to all of that.”

That would mean a vote on the bill would not come until at least Friday, frustrating lawmakers who were initially scheduled to fly out for the end-of-year holidays Thursday afternoon.

The broad frustration with the end-of-year package from across the conference is putting Johnson in a precarious position as he aims to remain Speaker next year with an even slimmer House GOP majority than what he has now. A key indicator that his Speakership is on the ropes would be if a majority of House Republicans oppose the CR.

Asked what the CR means for Johnson’s future— an implicit nod to the looming Speaker vote— Burlison, a Freedom Caucus member, told reporters, “Personally, I’m disappointed.”

“I think that he can do better,” he added. “He can communicate better. The fact that we haven’t seen the language today and we’re supposed to vote on it this week is unacceptable.”

Johnson, though, said he is “not worried” about getting the support he needs to keep the gavel next year, adding he “certainly hope[s] and am working towards the majority of the majority” of the GOP conference supporting the CR.

“We’re governing. Everybody knows we have difficult circumstances. We’re doing the very best we can under those circumstances,” Johnson said.

In a good sign for Johnson, Greene— who once tried to remove the Louisianan from his post but now plans to vote to keep him as Speaker— declined to criticize him specifically for his handling of the end-of-year bill.

“I haven’t been involved in that process,” Greene said, “so I can’t criticize, not being in the room.”

Maybe she wasn’t in the room because she was too busy practicing shooting down drones over New Jersey.

UPDATE: Trump just killed the whole plan. This strategy memo was posted this afternoon on Vance's Twitter account:

The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed. 

Meanwhile, Congress is considering a spending bill that would give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney. The bill would make it easier to hide the records of the corrupt January 6 committee— which accomplished nothing for the American people and hid security failures that happened that day. This bill would also give Congress a pay increase while many Americans are struggling this Christmas. 

Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.

Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country.

Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief.

THIS CHAOS WOULD NOT BE HAPPENING IF WE HAD A REAL PRESIDENT. WE WILL IN 32 DAYS!