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JOHNSON CAVES AGAIN: Promises Split Single Issue Bills, Takes Democrats’ Bait Instead
The final bill brokered by House Speaker Mike Johnson which ultimately passed both the House and Senate came at a cost.
For one thing, it could cost Johnson the Speakership when the 119th Congress puts it to a vote on January 3rd.
Initially Johnson promised to separate the multi-issue bill into distinct single-issue bills in order to promote transparency and reduce the likelihood of “pork spending” in the final product.
But that promise, along with many others, was not kept.
After the failed attempts of the previous versions of the bill, President Trump chimed in that he would rather simply shut the government down on Biden’s watch than give the democrats all they wanted with nothing in return.
Here’s the full text of President Trump’s post if that is hard to read:
If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under “TRUMP.” This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!
President Trump also commented on his desire to include an extension of the debt ceiling in order to allow him enough wiggle room to enact his changes once in office.
Here’s the full text of that post:
Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling. Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.
Though this idea of extending the debt ceiling was widely disliked by most of Trump’s supporters and MAGA, he stuck with his guns.
And Speaker Johnson… did not.
Ultimately the debt ceiling went completely undealt with, and the bill passed as an all-in-one bill rather than standalone legislation per issue.
Right up until the vote it appeared that Johnson would break the bill into multiple standalone bills, as Rep. Massie had previously suggested — which Johnson agreed to do.
UPDATE:
Thomas Massie has won. The House GOP leadership is splitting the spending bill into smaller pieces.
Each section will be voted on individually and allowed to pass or fail on it’s own.
CR, disaster relief, debt limit increase, etc. They will each be separate votes.
— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) December 20, 2024
Unfortunately, that promise wasn’t kept, and the bill was introduced more or less in its’ original form.
This was in fact correct when you tweeted it, but speaker Johnson flipped his decision after the meeting when he spoke to Hakeem Jeffries and realized he could get Democrat votes to pass all the legislation as one bill.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 20, 2024
Elon Musk threw Johnson a bone, admitting that the Speaker’s job is a hard one, and seeming to extend a great deal of grace to Johnson.
The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances.
It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces.
Ball should now be in the Dem court. https://t.co/KnSwLEjvjd
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2024
While President Trump wasn’t thrilled about the final product’s lack of debt ceiling language, he seems to have accepted the reality — determined to push forward and let things be, for now.
However, multiple threats to Johnson’s leadership are taking shape, including Freedom Caucus member Rep. Andy Harris suggesting that Johnson’s job may be up for grabs.
pic.twitter.com/MK9mFVpwHm
— Rep. Andy Harris, MD (@RepAndyHarrisMD) December 21, 2024
Other Republicans are considering options for a change in leadership as well, according to a report in Newsweek:
Republican Congressman Andy Harris has suggested that he is “undecided” about supporting Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s continued leadership just after a Johnson-backed temporary government funding bill, or continuing resolution (CR), passed through the House on Friday.
Johnson, who will face a vote to remain speaker on January 3, has faced increasing criticism from fiscal conservatives in his own party during repeated attempts to pass a CR this week. Republicans will have a very slim House majority in the next House session and Johnson can afford little dissent in the leadership vote, as all Democrats are likely to vote against his speakership.
The congressman went on to suggest that he may no longer support Johnson and other Republican leaders, arguing that “future generations deserve better” while saying that he is “now undecided on what House leadership should look like in the 119th Congress.”
Republican Representative Greg Steube, expressing doubts about backing Johnson in previous comments to The Hill: “He committed to the conference a year ago that we weren’t going to govern by CRs anymore, and we’ve done five. And 43 days after we get a mandate from the American people, we’re going to work with Democrats to do stuff, when a Republican Senate comes in in two weeks?”
Republican Senator Rand Paul, in a post to X: “The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress . . . Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk . . . think about it . . . nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds)”.
Here’s Senator Paul’s post as mentioned by the Newsweek story above.
The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress . . .
Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk . . . think about it . . . nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’…
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 19, 2024
Speaker Johnson, however, seems very happy with himself and the outcome of the spending bill.
Here’s Johnson detailing some of what is in the bill.
Johnson indeed joked to Elon Musk about taking over the Speakership role, according to CNN:
Johnson told reporters Friday evening he’d spoken to Elon Musk, the billionaire ally of Trump who played a key role earlier in the week in tanking the bipartisan deal Johnson had spent weeks negotiating, “about the extraordinary challenges of the job.”
“And I said, ‘Hey, you want to be speaker of the House? I don’t know,’” Johnson said. “He said, ‘This may be the hardest job in the world.’”
It wasn’t the only time the Louisiana Republican made that joke this week.
“He does crack that joke quite a bit,” said California Rep. David Valadao, a key House Republican negotiator who was involved in hashing out the spending plan that Congress approved early Saturday, avoiding a shutdown that would cause disruptions across the country.
All jokes aside, Mike Johnson could well face a steeper path on January 3rd in order to maintain his leadership position in the House.
Even Senator Mike Lee is weighing in from the Senate Chamber about a potential Elon Musk or Ramaswamy Speakership.
Would you be happy with either Speaker Ramaswamy or Speaker Musk?
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) December 19, 2024
The idea of a non-Congressional House Speaker has been floated before.
But it seems as though that possibility could shift from the realm of plausibility to probability very soon, considering how much bad press Mike Johnson is taking for his decisions on this bill alone.
January 20th is the big date on most people’s minds these days, awaiting the re-entry of President Trump to the White House.
But that January 3rd date is pivotal, when the 119th Congress assembles for the first time, and leadership is chosen.
A lot can happen in the few weeks leading up to that day.
But as things currently stand, I don’t envy Mike Johnson right now or the uncertainty surrounding his future leadership role.
The job of House Speaker is surely a hard one, without doubt. But you can only resort back to the old ways of doing business so many times before the reality of the POPULAR MANDATE slaps you across the face.
And if I was in Speaker Johnson’s shoes… I might be getting ready to duck, right about now.
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