A small group of Republican lawmakers threw the House into chaos last year. They voted to get rid of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker. They were successful, leaving the House in gridlock for weeks.
McCarthy not only stepped down, but resigned from Congress completely. As the dust settled, Republicans voted for little-known congressman Mike Johnson.
Republicans promised Johnson would be the America-First Speaker that McCarthy wasn’t. But Johnson is turning out to be more of an ally of the Democrats than McCarthy ever was. He just gave Biden a huge gift—more funding for the endless Ukraine War. And he dropped the only promise he made to Republicans.
The border won’t be secured this year, after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) proposed a deal that breaks border security off from the little leverage Republicans had, leaving it to drift into the void.
Republican leadership’s plan is to pass funding for Ukraine’s and Israel’s wars, as well as a bill forcing TikTok to divest from its Chinese owner, a bill to seize Russian bank assets, and other foreign aid and sanctions, bundling them all together to send to the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Oh, and the Rules Committee, Johnson said in his Wednesday statement, will “also be posting text on a border security bill that includes the core components of HR 2, under a separate rule that will allow for amendments.” [Source: The Blaze]
Republicans had a little bit of leverage to pass border security. Joe Biden wanted more funding for Ukraine. Speaker Johnson could have held his ground, saying he wouldn’t support Ukraine funding without security for the border.
Instead, he seemed to cave to Democrats and support a bill that funds Ukraine, Israel, bans a social app, takes money from Russian bank accounts, while pushing other foreign aid. Missing from this bill is funding or measures to end the border crisis.
We’ll remind you that Biden’s border crisis has resulted in nearly 8 million illegal aliens from South America, Asia, and Africa entering the country—overwhelming cities and communities nationwide.
Yet Biden and Democrats have prioritized Ukraine over this massive crisis. Speaker Johnson had vowed to make the border his top concern. But by removing border funding from this bill—he is giving Democrats everything they want upfront.
There is no reason for Democrats to turn around and support another bill that provides security for the border. Johnson is doing what Joe Manchin did in 2022, support a bill that makes Democrats happy in exchange for something else. But Manchin never got that “something else” and he was blasted by voters back home.
That doomed Manchin’s political career, leading to his retirement from the Senate. Will this move do the same to Mike Johnson? We don’t know. But he is shaping up to be a much worse Speaker than McCarthy.
Author: Kit Fargo
