Scott Gurvey's Public Offerings

Republicans scraped the bottom of the barrel last October when they elected the little-known Mike Johnson of Louisiana Speaker of the House of Representatives and second in line to the Presidency of the United States. Johnson emerged as the fourth Republican nominee in what had become a clown show of political infighting after the Republican caucus threw out Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Johnson’s election required fifteen votes.

McCarthy was voted out of the job in an extraordinary showdown, a first in U.S. history, forced by a gang of hard-right conservative Republicans. The vote threw the House and its Republican leadership into chaos. McCarthy’s crime was to have reached a bipartisan agreement with Democrats to fund the government for a brief period to prevent a shutdown.

Johnson may be relatively unknown, but in this era where everything is recorded, he has amassed a formidable public record putting him on the hard right of the party, and the nation. Johnson is an ally of former president Donald Trump. He opposed certifying the 2020 election. He is anti-abortion and supports LGBTQ restrictions.

His pro-Trump position won Mike the support of the chaos caucus, consisting of Republican House members such as Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Louie Gohmert of Texas, and Andy Harris of Maryland. That’s the group that toppled Kevin McCarthy.

The inexperienced Johnson figured he could retain the support of the ultra-right Republican members and steer the body to a budget bill. He was misinformed. Johnson couldn’t pass a budget and made the same deal as McCarthy, a continuing resolution to fund the government through the Christmas holiday recess. Coming back to work in January Johnson failed again and the result was the third continuing resolution of this congress, signed on January 19. This extension is “laddered”, having different expiration dates for various parts. But another shutdown looms on March 8.

What is Johnson doing? He sent the House home for a two-week vacation.

The budget is the most important task the House of Representatives faces. The Constitution requires that all spending bills originate in that body. (Article I, Section 9, Clause 7) But there is a lengthy list of issues pending on which the House must act.

We need only turn on the evening news to be aware of the border crisis, with tens of thousands of would-be immigrants arriving at the southern border claiming asylum. It is the source of hundreds of hours of programming on the Fox Channel. And it is the lead Republican election issue, with Donnie Trump leading the party faithful into decrying the so-called Biden Border Crisis.

In fact, the immigration problem has stymied Washington for decades and both parties are to blame. Compromises have been reached but have failed to clear both houses of Congress in the same session. Most recently, legislation tightening border security but failing to revise the outdated asylum process, which dates to 1948, or to provide a path to citizenship for immigrants already in the country was submitted in the Senate. Those were key Democratic demands. But the Democrats sacrificed them all to attract enough Republic support to pass the bill. Then Donald Trump opened his mouth.

Trump, it seems, doesn’t want to eliminate the immigration crisis. Trump wants to keep the crisis going so he can use it as a campaign issue. Mike Johnson, originally believing the new law could pass, turned out to have been misinformed again. Once Trump indicated his opposition, Republican support for border security disappeared in both houses. So now it’s the Trump Border Crisis.

What is Johnson doing? He sent the House home for a two-week vacation.

On foreign affairs Johnson had good reason to believe he could get his Republican faithful to support the kind of robust policy Republicans have traditionally shown for democratic governments fighting against repression and Russian dominance. Think again.

The Senate passed foreign assistance legislation to aid Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Ukraine is running out of ammunition two-years after the Russian invasion. Israel is battling Hamas storm troopers who invaded their country on October 7. And Taiwan faces the growing threat of a Chinese invasion across the 110 mile straight separating it from the mainland. But if Johnson thought he could rally support from his members, he was once again misinformed.

Trump is the guy pulling Johnson’s strings. And Trump is impressed by the dictator class. He prefers Putin to democracy. We can all imagine Ronald Reagan turning over in his grave. Meanwhile the chaos caucus is lost back somewhere at the beginning of the twentieth century, opposing American “entanglements” overseas. Those of us who have studied history know how that came out.

What is Johnson doing? With Ukraine running out of artillery shells, Johnson sent the House home for a two-week vacation.

There is one item on the Republican agenda which is still moving forward. That is the investigation into Hunter Biden and the impeachment investigation into President Biden. James Comer of Kentucky continues to claim he has evidence, which he has never revealed, that supports the charges against the Bidens. Comer’s principal witness, Alexander Smirnov, has been indicted for lying about the Biden’s to the FBI. Reports allege Smirnov has been linked to a Russian intelligence operation to influence the 2024 election. The fact the FBI has determined Smirnov’s testimony is not only worthless but actually part of a Russian disinformation campaign directed against President Biden has not deterred Comer. The time-wasting investigation continues.

We would ask Johnson if, considering this news, he intends to continue the House impeachment investigation. But we will have to wait until the Speaker returns. He is on vacation.

#####