Dem
47
GOP
53
A week from today it is Christmas, so it is time for Christmas trees. No, not that kind. We are a political site, after all. There is a long-standing tradition in Congress to fail to pass a budget for the new fiscal year on time. If there is no budget, then the government has to shut down, with dire consequences for many people. To prevent that, typically a few minutes before midnight of the last possible day, to prevent the government from turning into a pumpkin, Congress passes a bill called continuing resolution (CR) that funds the government for a few weeks or months at current spending levels. The official parliamentary term for this is "Kicking the can down the road."
When the Republicans control the House, the Freedom Caucus often tries to hold the bill hostage, in order to force big cuts in social programs. This forces the speaker to make a deal with the Democrats to get enough votes from them. But the Democrats don't sell their souls for nothing. They want a quid pro quo for their support. The quid (or is it the quo?) is including all kinds of spending for things the Freedom Caucus despises. As a result, the CR is full of shiny little ornaments that are unrelated to the basic kicking-the-can-down-the-road function of the bill. The resulting bill is called a "Christmas tree" by its opponents on account of all the gifts associated with it. This whole process happens regularly.
Sure enough, it happened again yesterday. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) revealed a CR with shiny little ornaments with Democratic fingerprints all over them. Among them are $100 billion in disaster relief, $10 billion to help farmers get credit and $2 billion to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore that was destroyed by a rogue container ship earlier this year. The latter ornament was a special Christmas present for the retiring (and much liked by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle) Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), even though he is Jewish. The bill also has $29 billion for FEMA, $21 billion for the Dept. of Agriculture, money for the SBA, money for a new stadium in D.C. and more. Because Congress is going home on Friday, it is take it or leave it for House members. They saw this coming and were furious in advance and still are even though Johnson is proclaiming loudly that it is NOT a Christmas tree.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said: "It's not a CR, which is a continuation of the budget. It's turning into an omnibus." Other FC members were less gentle. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), said: "We get this negotiated crap, and we're forced to eat this crap sandwich." Roy does not want to negotiate with the Democrats. He wants the Republicans to ram all bills through with only Republican votes. The problem is that Republicans are badly divided on many issues, which makes that impossible.
Moderate Republicans saw how this was going to end and were complaining about it as well. At the House conference yesterday, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) complained that the process was not member driven. He said Johnson was cooking up the whole thing himself and not following the regular order, with committee hearings and markups. When Lawler asked the speaker's office about some proposed provision, he claims he was told: "Jeffries and Schumer don't support it." Lawler said to the conference: "I am not a fucking Democrat." Many of the Republicans are furious that Johnson is beholden to the Democrats to get enough votes to pass the bill, but his core problem is that there is no bill that could get 218 Republican votes. This is an ominous sign for the new Congress, where the Republicans' margin in the House will be even smaller than the current one. And remember, this bill isn't a real budget. It just keeps the lights on until March, when the real fight will occur.
Normally, members are given 72 hours to read bills before voting, but Johnson has not committed to following the rule this time because Santa Claus is approaching and there might not be enough time left.
Leaning on Democrats to keep the lights on could have repercussions on Jan. 3. The FCers might not be willing to support Johnson for speaker again, at least not without major concessions. While the FCers might be furious with Johnson, the question is whether they can come up with someone else who can get 218 votes when the speaker is elected. Complaining is the easy part. Finding an alternative who can get 218 votes is the hard part. (V)