Mike Johnson Has Already Run Out of Ideas

Johnson’s gambit was swiftly rejected by lawmakers in both parties. Top Senate Republicans such as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Susan Collins called for including Ukraine aid in the legislative package, while the White House and congressional Democrats said cutting the IRS was a non-starter. The administration also panned Johnson for leaving out Biden’s proposals for humanitarian assistance, increasing immigration enforcement and funds to counter China. In remarks on Tuesday, McConnell also suggested the legislation should include funds for the U.S.-Mexico border.

Despite knowing that this plan would be dead on arrival in the Senate, Johnson moved forward with it anyway. Perhaps the best thing you could say about his maiden voyage into House leadership is that Johnson’s plan was at least a classic—and crass—bit of politicking. That, at least, was hinted at by Johnson ally Rep. Scott Perry on Tuesday. 

Naturally, the problem with this maneuver is that there’s no real good reason to sail this effort onto the shoals. Johnson could just as easily pass a $14.3 billion aid package to Israel and see what the Senate does. (He could also try to do what speakers traditionally do and twist arms for the larger package, but he has been a vocal opponent of continued military aid to Ukraine—his weird hint that it might be something he would support notwithstanding.) Instead of doing something that might be either good policy or good politics, he’s doing neither, opting instead for a doomed, symbolic gesture aimed at keeping the wild nihilists in his own caucus happy. This is probably a good move if you want to avoid sparking another speaker fight, but the trade-off is that this all dies in the Senate, leaving Johnson with no good “Plan B” besides just doing what he might have done in the first place. 

This is all a good sign that Johnson is more constrained by the chaotic internal politics of the House GOP than even Kevin McCarthy was. Johnson may share a lack of interest in governing or passing legislation with the wilder members of his caucus. Unfortunately, it’s hard to simultaneously maintain that posture and be the speaker of the House. What is abundantly clear is that little has changed in the gavel’s turnover: Johnson knows to keep his job he will have to continuously kowtow to the Republicans who want to simply obstruct legislation and throw sand in the gears of governing. It’s a bad outlook for passing Biden’s foreign aid bill. It’s an even worse sign for the looming government shutdown—to say nothing of everything that might come after these matters are determined. And Johnson may already be out of ideas.