The adage “something is better than nothing” most certainly does not apply to speaker of the House with the current crop of Republican congressmen. At this point, it would be better for Republicans to vacate the chair, even if means a deadlocked conference and the party cannot agree upon a speaker. Paralyzing the House and preventing it from passing more odious legislation is probably the most auspicious outcome we can hope for now.
When Republicans took over the House in January 2023, they had one job: Stop Joe Biden’s destructive policies. If they couldn’t pass good legislation, at least they had the numbers to stop “must-pass” bills — especially budgets and debt ceiling hikes — unless and until certain conditions were met. Given inflation, invasion, and indoctrination, Republicans had a host of issues they could have used to wage and win budget warfare — particularly against an unpopular administration.
When it comes to the resisting the uniparty, nothing is always better than something.
Alas, we cannot have nice things.
Republicans gave Biden a blank check on the debt ceiling for the remainder of his term, passed every single appropriation bill to fund his policies without any reforms in exchange, and gave away remaining leverage on must-pass reauthorization bills, such as the National Defense Authorization Act.
The entire purpose of ending the paralysis in the speaker fight in October and agreeing to elevate a weak-kneed backbencher like Mike Johnson (R-La.) was to fight on at least one issue — the border — in the final budget bill of the year. Now that Johnson has sold out on funding the leviathan (with a majority of his party in opposition), there is no point in avoiding the chaos of a vacant speaker’s chair indefinitely.
In fact, it would be beneficial.
Having relinquished the GOP’s leverage on must-pass bills, Johnson is embarking on a plan to pass new bad bills. It’s one thing to say House Republicans lack the votes to enact good policy changes, but even with a paper-thin majority, they can use House rules to block the bad ones. Johnson has other ideas, apparently.
Johnson’s top priority is to pass new funding for Ukraine. Nobody has explained yet how another $60 billion will help Ukraine win an unwinnable war. To the swamp politicians, Ukraine funding has now become an unconditional ritual akin to biblical tithing, except with our money. Unfortunately, President Trump has blessed the idea of a “lend-lease program” for Ukraine rather than direct aid, a lifeline that Johnson has eagerly taken. Except, as Trump himself said in February, “if they can’t make it, they don’t have to pay us back.”
The silence of right-leaning influencers is as shocking as it is bizarre. Even if one supported Ukraine’s defense against Russia in 2022, nothing is left to be gained by provoking Russia even more by sending Ukraine more weapons or by seizing Russia’s foreign assets, as Johnson proposes. It is a losing cause and would make no strategic sense, even if it didn’t cost us a dime and we weren’t facing our own fiscal insolvency.
Nevertheless, passing some form of Ukraine aid remains the speaker’s top priority. Johnson has shown he’s willing to bypass the Rules Committee and pass major bills with majority Democratic support on the floor under suspension of the rules. Unless he is removed (or pressure is brought to bear on Trump to change his mind), this aid package will pass in some form. In that sense, a vacant chair with zero legislative activity on the House floor would be superior to the status quo.
Then, of course, there is the FISA Section 702 reauthorization, a surveillance law that has been turned against Americans — up to and including Donald Trump. Johnson could have used the reauthorization vote at the end of the year to extract concessions from Biden and the Democrats on GOP priorities.
In particular, Johnson could have backed the bipartisan reform bill that passed the House Judiciary Committee with support of the ranking Democrat to require federal law enforcement agencies to obtain a warrant when seeking to query information on any American caught up in foreign surveillance.
In fact, Johnson did back that provision. Then he reversed course. He also promised Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) a vote on his amendment to bar federal agencies from skirting the Fourth Amendment by purchasing information on Americans from private data companies. After a conversation with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio), a staunch supporter of the surveillance program, Johnson threw in with Team FBI.
The good news is that Johnson’s grip may be slipping: 19 Republicans on Wednesday defied the speaker and tanked reauthorization in a procedural vote.
Johnson was reportedly outraged. But the real outrage should be coming from the right. Unless Trump exerts the influence of his voters upon Johnson, Republicans have no choice but to vacate the chair. Stripped of all our chances to go on offense, the best we can do is to play defense against harmful legislation. When it comes to the resisting the uniparty, nothing is always better than something.