Congress: The Senate & The House

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💰 Johnson shows his cards

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told Senate Republicans today that he supports tying Ukraine aid to a border security package at a later date — but categorically ruled out combining it with emergency Israel funding.

Why it matters: The White House, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are united on the need to pass both Israel and Ukraine aid, viewing the respective fights against Hamas and Russia as interlinked.

• Johnson was candid that the House GOP would not support a combined package — acknowledging "his caucus would revolt and it would probably be the end of the speakership," Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) told Politico.
• Johnson — who has voted against Ukraine aid multiple times — also suggested his views on supporting Kyiv's war effort may have to change now that he's speaker, according to Punchbowl News.

State of play: The Congressional Budget Office assessed today that House Republicans' bill to "offset" $14.3 billion in Israel aid with $14.3 billion in cuts to IRS funding would add $26.8 billion to the deficit, citing reduced tax enforcement.

• Johnson told reporters he was not surprised, saying: "Only in Washington when you cut spending do they call it an increase in the deficit."

The big picture: Johnson also told Senate Republicans that his preference is for the House to avoid a government shutdown on Nov. 17 by passing a stopgap measure until Jan. 15, giving lawmakers more time to work on appropriations.

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Rep. Mike Johnson’s Largest Donor Was AIPAC. He’s Trying to Cut Free Tax Filing to Send Weapons to Israel.

Johnson’s first order of business as House speaker is to seek budget cuts in exchange for a $14 billion aid package for Israel.

https://theintercept.com/2023/11/01/mike-johnson-donor-aipac-israel/?

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🇮🇱 House passes doomed Israel bill

The House voted 226-196, largely along party lines, to pass legislation providing $14.3 billion in military assistance to Israel while cutting funding to the IRS, Axios' Andrew Solender reports.

Why it matters: Biden has already vowed to veto the bill, while the Senate is poised to ignore the House GOP measure altogether in favor of bipartisan legislation combining funding for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and border security.

• Rather than saving money, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office determined the IRS clawback would add $12.5 billion to the federal deficit over a decade due to lost tax revenue.
• Twelve House Democrats voted in favor of the bill, while two right-wing Republicans — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — voted against it.

The intrigue: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, today became the first senator to call for a ceasefire in Gaza — a word that even progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have not yet invoked.

• Durbin's comments came as a surprise, especially given that he was the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) first successful recruit as a House candidate in 1982, according to The Intercept.

Keep reading

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State and local election workers quitting amid abuse, officials tell U.S. Senate panel

State and local election officials face threats and intimidation, driving experienced workers out of the profession, a panel of election officials told a U.S. Senate committee this week.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/11/03/state-and-local-election-workers-quitting-amid-abuse-officials-tell-u-s-senate-panel/?

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New House speaker Mike Johnson holds extreme views on climate change, science

Louisiana legislators and progressive activists warn Johnson’s polite demeanor masks dangerous ideas

https://lailluminator.com/2023/10/31/mike-johnson-extreme/?

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U.S. House pushes through Israel-only aid bill with dim future in Senate

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Thursday approved a $14.3 billion spending bill to aid Israel in its war against Hamas, but the measure stands no chance of passing the Senate and has elicited a veto threat from the White House.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/11/03/u-s-house-pushes-through-israel-only-aid-bill-with-dim-future-in-senate/?

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Senate Republicans outline border security measures they want as a condition for aiding Ukraine

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans have released a sweeping set of U.S. border security proposals as a condition for sending more aid to Ukraine, laying out a draft plan to resume construction on parts of the U.S.-Mexico border wall, curtail humanitarian parole for people who cross into the United States and make it more difficult for migrants to qualify for asylum.

https://apnews.com/article/border-ukraine-republicans-spending-israel-df49298631d87000ed8237080e6e897e?

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Johnson's 10-day shutdown test

Fresh off their agonizing October speaker vacancy, House Republicans are playing a new game of chicken that could spell the end of Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) brief honeymoon, Axios' Juliegrace Brufke reports.

What's happening: The House GOP has just 10 days to decide whether to risk a government shutdown, with one member telling Axios it can't be an option with "the world on fire."

Driving the news: Johnson laid out multiple options to his members during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, including:

1. A two-step "laddered" approach;
2. A stopgap that would run through mid-January with "certain stipulations,"
3. Getting "jammed" by the Senate.

Why it matters: Some Republicans walked out more confused — and less certain about the path forward — than when they walked in.

Zoom in: The current government stopgap funding expires on Nov. 17.

• Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted over his decision to rely on Democratic votes to avert a government shutdown, but just over a month later, the House is back in the same position.
• Johnson is expected to be granted more leeway by hardliners, but conservatives are still demanding that the next stopgap be paired with deep spending cuts — putting them on a collision course with the Senate and White House.

Between the lines: Johnson's untested "laddered" stopgap would fund certain parts of the government through mid-December — and others through mid-January — while Congress finishes work on its appropriations bills.

Reality check: "The problem is I don't know how you shut down part of the government and not the other part of the government — you've got to keep all this stuff in sync," one senior GOP lawmaker told Axios.

• Other GOP lawmakers worry that holiday deadlines could lead to the House getting jammed with a sweeping omnibus spending bill — an apocalyptic scenario for most conservatives.
• One member floated "punting" the next funding deadline until April to give the House time to finish its appropriations bills and engage with the Senate on the bipartisan compromise that will ultimately be necessary.
• If no progress is made, the member noted, the debt ceiling deal passed by Congress in June would impose automatic 1% budget cuts across the board.

What's next: House GOP leadership is aiming to come to a consensus and bring a bill to the floor next week.

Meanwhile: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) revealed today that Republicans will not support President Biden's request for Ukraine aid and other national security funding unless Democrats agree to significant changes to immigration policy.

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Senate confirms Monica Bertagnolli as NIH director

The Senate confirmed Dr. Monica Bertagnolli to lead the National Institutes of Health in a 62-36 vote Tuesday.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/07/senate-nih-director-monica-bertagnolli-00125803?

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Rashida Tlaib censured by House over Israel comments

The House on Tuesday voted to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) for her criticisms of Israel and her defense of a controversial pro-Palestinian chant.

https://www.axios.com/2023/11/08/rashida-tlaib-censure-israel-hamas

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U.S. Senate panel debates how to protect children on social media platforms

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators at a Tuesday hearing pushed for bipartisan legislation to protect children online.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/11/08/u-s-senate-panel-debates-how-to-protect-children-on-social-media-platforms/?

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Biden administration warns of dangers of turning down Ukraine aid as GOP voices doubts

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators from both parties and administration officials sounded the alarm Wednesday on the path forward for Ukraine amid dwindling U.S. humanitarian, economic development and security assistance and as Congress risks a government shutdown in less than 10 days.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/11/08/biden-administration-warns-of-dangers-of-turning-down-ukraine-aid-as-gop-voices-doubts/?

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💰 Johnson's spending implosion

House Republicans today pulled their third government funding vote in two weeks due to threats from moderates and conservatives to kill the legislation, Axios' Andrew Solender reports.

Why it matters: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is facing the same internal GOP divisions that led to the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — and they may be getting worse.

• "I don't think the Lord Jesus himself could manage this group," Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) told NBC News.
• "There's 20 or 30 Republicans that are more in the Biden districts, the frontline ... we're tired of taking crappy votes," said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.).

The intrigue: Moderates from swing districts had objected to language in one spending bill related to abortion policy in D.C. — a recognition of the political potency of the issue in recent elections.

State of play: With eight days until the next government funding deadline, the Biden administration has begun making contingency plans for a shutdown for the second time this year, the Washington Post reports.

Keep reading

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👀 Johnson's two-step gamble

With Congress barreling toward a potential shutdown on Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) unveiled a complex — and untested — plan to continue funding the government with two timelines. Under the so-called "laddered" continuing resolution, some spending bills would be extended until Jan. 19, while the rest would be pushed to a Feb. 2 deadline. Why it matters: The parliamentary gimmick is backed by some conservative hardliners who are committed to finishing the 12 appropriations bills but have no appetite for a shutdown just weeks after they elected a new speaker. "This two-step continuing resolution is a necessary bill to place House Republicans in the best position to fight for conservative victories," Johnson said in a statement. "The bill will stop the absurd holiday-season omnibus tradition of massive, loaded-up spending bills introduced right before the Christmas recess." Between the lines: The stopgap bill does not include the deep spending cuts or conservative policy riders that hardliners had demanded — signifying something of a peace offering from Johnson to Democrats. But the White House and some Democrats have still trashed the idea of funding the government in different timelines, meaning Johnson likely can't count on their votes. "That's the craziest, stupidest thing I've ever heard of," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told reporters last week when asked about a "laddered" CR. Some Republicans — such as Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — have also signaled they'll vote against the bill because it extends existing spending levels. The intrigue: Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who was ousted for pushing the same kind of "clean" CR that Johnson is now proposing, predicted his successor will have more leeway. "I don't think anybody can make a motion to vacate for the rest of the term. I think he's safe regardless," McCarthy told CNN, suggesting the GOP conference is still scarred from their three-week speaker vacancy.

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💰 Johnson takes page from McCarthy

The dynamic forming around the two-tiered stopgap spending bill proposed by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is shaping up to be a carbon copy of how Congress kept the government funded two months ago, Axios' Andrew Solender reports.

Why it matters: The House ultimately voted on a bipartisan basis to avert a government shutdown in September, but the conservative anger that followed led to the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Driving the news: House Republican hardliners are lining up against Johnson's proposal, which extends funding for some less controversial agency budgets to Jan. 19 and the rest until Feb. 2.

• While the proposal does not include the supplemental foreign military aid and domestic spending requested by the White House, it also excludes the budget cuts and policy riders conservatives have pushed for.
• Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told reporters of the so-called "clean" spending bill: "That's precisely what ... resulted in the motion to vacate against Kevin [McCarthy]."

The other side: As in September, lost conservative votes may be offset by Democratic support. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and his leadership team said today they are "carefully evaluating" Johnson's proposal.

• Some conservatives are already offering ominous warnings against relying on Democratic votes.
• But Johnson's honeymoon period — and scars from the three-week speaker vacancy — are likely to protect him from meeting the same fate as McCarthy.

Keep reading

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🚫 House blocks Mayorkas impeachment

The House voted 209-201 to kill a resolution to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and instead refer it to the Homeland Security Committee, Andrew reports.

Why it matters: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) attempt to force a vote on impeaching Mayorkas would have required vulnerable Republicans to take a politically risky vote on an impeachment many of her colleagues view as half-baked.

• Mayorkas emerged as the GOP's most likely impeachment target as early as last April, serving as the figurehead for the Biden administration border policies Republicans routinely rail against.
• But as summer turned to fall this year, Republicans stepped back from Mayorkas and put all their chips into an impeachment inquiry against Biden.

Keep reading

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Congress nears another government shutdown deadline on Friday at midnight

WASHINGTON — Congress on Monday appeared to be on the edge of approving another short-term government funding bill this week, though several hurdles remain if lawmakers want to stave off a partial government shutdown when the current funding law expires at the end of the week.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/11/13/congress-nears-another-government-shutdown-deadline-on-friday-at-midnight/?

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Capitol Hill's ugly day

Tensions on Capitol Hill spilled over today into an alleged altercation in the House and a near-fistfight at a Senate hearing, Axios' Juliegrace Brufke writes.

• Why it matters: The incidents — which stunned Congress — weren't driven by protesters or tourists. They involved a former House speaker and a U.S. senator.

What's happening: In the House, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) accused former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of elbowing him in the back.

• Burchett, who voted to oust McCarthy, called the California Republican "a bully."
• NPR reporter Claudia Grisales said she witnessed the scuffle during an interview with Burchett.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) challenged Teamsters President Sean O'Brien to a fight during a hearing on labor unions.

• Mullin held up printed tweets about him by O'Brien, a witness at the hearing, that said: "You know where to find me. Anyplace, Anytime cowboy."
• "Sir, this is a time. This is a place," Mullin said from the podium where lawmakers sit.

The other side: McCarthy denied that he elbowed Burchett despite multiple witnesses confirming the spat: "If I would hit somebody, they would know I hit them."

• At the hearing, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who chairs the committee, attempted to rein them in. "You're a United States senator. Sit down. We're not here to talk about physical abuse," he said.

🔎 Between the lines: Congress is racing to avert a government shutdown before a Friday deadline.

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House votes to prevent government shutdown as GOP Speaker Johnson relies on Democrats for help

WASHINGTON — The House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to prevent a government shutdown after new Republican Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to reach across the aisle to Democrats when hard-right conservatives revolted against his plan.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/11/14/house-votes-to-prevent-government-shutdown-as-gop-speaker-johnson-relies-on-democrats-for-help/?

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Congressional fight club

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters today that passing a short-term government funding bill would allow lawmakers to go home for Thanksgiving and "cool off." "Members have been here for ... 10 weeks," Johnson said. "This place is a pressure cooker." Why it matters: Within hours, the congressional pressure cooker had exploded — spraying childish insults, violent threats and alleged "kidney punches" all over Capitol Hill. Driving the news: One of Congress' most bizarre days in recent memory began when Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) — one of the eight House Republicans who voted to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — accused McCarthy of elbowing him in a narrow hallway. McCarthy denied that he intentionally elbowed Burchett and mocked the congressman for saying he was still in pain, telling reporters: "If I kidney punched him, he'd be on the ground." Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), the chief architect of McCarthy's ouster, filed an ethics complaint against the former speaker — citing a "substantial increase in breaches of decorum unlike anything we have seen since the pre-Civil War era." Over in the Senate, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) — a former mixed martial artist — challenged Teamsters president Sean O'Brien to a fight during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing. "You want to run your mouth. We can be two consenting adults, we can finish it here," Mullin said, standing up and calling on the labor boss to do the same. Senate HELP chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) then intervened, furiously reminding Mullin: "You're a United States senator. Sit down." Silver lining: Not all of today's confrontations were physical. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) began the morning by calling Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) a "p***y" for voting to block her impeachment resolution against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. House Oversight chair James Comer (R-Ky.) exploded at Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) during an exchange over Comer's family business dealings, saying the blue-suited Democrat looked like a "Smurf." Flashback: The 118th Congress kicked off in January with a heated speaker's election, in which Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) had to be physically restrained after lunging at Gaetz on the House floor. The bad behavior has only escalated since then: Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) face felony indictments, while Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) was condemned by congressional leaders for screaming at a group of young Senate pages in July. Members have introduced 18 censure motions against their colleagues — many of them acts of tit-for-tat retribution, according to data compiled by Quorum. The bottom line: It's no wonder that Americans gave Congress an approval rating of 13% last month — its lowest mark since 2017.

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GOP senator challenges Teamsters head to a fight in a fiery exchange at a hearing

WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional hearing devolved into an angry confrontation between a senator and a witness on Tuesday after Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma challenged Sean O’Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, to “stand your butt up” and settle longstanding differences right there in the room.

https://apnews.com/article/senate-mullin-obrien-teamsters-fight-hearing-153e28d131973d1e10b539491c9e94a6?

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Johnson's holiday report card

A furious Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) challenged his colleagues today to present "one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done" that he can take back to his constituents.

• "One thing!" Roy, a Freedom Caucus conservative, bellowed on the House floor. "One!"

Why it matters: House Republicans' decision to head home early for Thanksgiving recess will give Washington ample time to reflect on Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) three weeks in office, which have been haunted by the same bitter GOP divisions that felled his predecessor.

Driving the news: Johnson successfully punted the next government shutdown deadline into early 2024 — but, like former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), infuriated conservatives in the process by relying heavily on Democratic votes.

• In retaliation, 19 GOP hardliners rebelled to defeat a procedural vote on the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations bill — prompting Johnson to cancel remaining votes and send everyone home.
• It's a strange predicament to be in for a MAGA-aligned Republican who describes himself as an "arch conservative," but one that perfectly captures the consistently ungovernable nature of the GOP conference.

The big picture: Johnson's first week was undoubtedly a successful one, as his election fueled a surge in GOP fundraising and the House passed an Israel aid package paired with cuts to IRS funding.

• Since then, GOP leadership has been forced to pull three votes on appropriations bills due to threats from both the moderate and conservative wings of the party.
• There's been no floor action on a bill funding the Department of Agriculture and the FDA, after moderates tanked a vote in September over language restricting access to abortion pills.
• The Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill also appears to be in limbo, with Johnson opting to regroup after Thanksgiving rather than risk another embarrassing defeat on the House floor.

What they're saying: After losing 95 Republicans on yesterday's vote to keep the government funded, Johnson defended his leadership and insisted that his novel "two-step" stopgap approach would be a victory for conservatives.

• "I've been at the job less than three weeks, right?" he said. "I can't turn an aircraft carrier overnight."
• "It should be obvious to anyone who is watching that House Republicans are unable to govern on their own, period, full stop," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) countered.

What to watch: There are just 21 legislative days until the next government funding deadline on Jan. 19, and Johnson — who has vowed not to pass another short-term spending bill — is quickly burning political capital.

The bottom line: The lingering scars from the GOP's speaker vacancy have afforded Johnson additional job security, but his honeymoon period has otherwise come to a screeching halt.

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Congress approves temporary funding and pushes the fight over the federal budget into the new year

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ending the threat of a government shutdown until after the holidays, Congress gave final approval to a temporary government funding package that pushes a confrontation over the federal budget into the new year.

https://apnews.com/article/congress-government-shutdown-43064e2521454f5ce32851ef74ac50cf?

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Amid congressional chaos, Frost reaches across the aisle to the GOP

Democratic freshman U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost is one of the most progressive members of Congress, but in the past few months, he’s been working alongside Republicans, including neighboring conservative Rep. Cory Mills, on bills ranging from military voting to hurricanes.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/11/21/amid-congressional-chaos-frost-reaches-across-the-aisle-to-the-gop/?

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🌊 House retirement flood

Two more members of the House announced they would not seek re-election today, bringing the number of retirements to 12 in November alone — the most in a single month since Ballotpedia began tracking in 2011.

• Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), a 30-year veteran of Congress who represents Silicon Valley, will retire from her safe-blue seat at the end of this term.
• Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), who has represented a Republican stronghold for eight terms, will serve for several more months before becoming the president of Youngstown State University.

The big picture: Punchbowl News' Mica Soellner interviewed about a dozen outgoing House members about their decision to leave behind an increasingly dysfunctional workplace.

• "It's insane and it adds no value to my life," said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). "The things I care about, I can do better not here."
• "It's stupid, you know," said Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.). "Impeach that person, censure that person, it's all political, so members can go raise money and talk tough back home."