House Republicans cleared the lowest bar. The next one could still trip them.

[marmar]

House Speaker Mike Johnson cleared the lowest bar possible
The majority finally figured out who's going to lead them. Now he actually has to, you know, lead them.

Oct. 26, 2023, 6:00 AM EDT
By Hayes Brown, MSNBC Opinion Writer/Editor


It didn’t feel possible after three straight weeks of chaos, but the House finally elected a new speaker: Rep. Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana in his fourth term. The erstwhile vice chair of the GOP Conference won over the entirety of his caucus Wednesday. As a result, he ended up with more support in one ballot than his predecessor, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., got even in the 15th and final round of voting in January.

....(snip)....

When it was passed on Sept. 30, the short-term spending bill was pegged to expire on Nov. 17, but the GOP’s protracted clown show has eaten up roughly half that time. Ahead of Wednesday’s vote on the House floor, Johnson released a letter that lays out a timeline for how he plans to get things done over the next few weeks, and it’s definitely an ambitious schedule. Before McCarthy’s ouster, the GOP had passed four spending bills. Johnson is proposing to pass the Energy and Water appropriations bill this week and three more next week. Two more would pass the week after that, and finally the last two bills, including the Agriculture, Rural Development and Food and Drug Administration appropriations bill, right before the deadline hits.

....(snip)....

Johnson acknowledged the likely time-consuming process in his letter and offered a workaround for the looming deadline: “As all of this is being completed, if another stopgap measure is needed to extend government funding beyond the November 17 deadline, I would propose a measure that expires on January 15 or April 15 (based on what can obtain Conference consensus), to ensure the Senate cannot jam the House with a Christmas omnibus.”

What he didn’t say was that a failure to have all 12 bills signed into law in January would result in automatic 1% cuts in both defense and nondefense spending. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, tried to use those automatic cuts as a sweetener for his far-right allies during his failed run for speaker by arguing in favor of punting until next year as plan A to avoid a shutdown. Johnson could be employing the same strategy to try to tamp down conservative anger if another short-term spending bill is required. But earlier this year, so many Republicans were against any continuing resolution that McCarthy was forced to turn to Democrats. It’s hard to see what’s changed between now and then — aside from the person who’s holding the speaker’s gavel. .............(more)

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/house-speaker-mike-johnson-republican-government-shutdown-rcna122186

[rubbersole]

1. Chaos is coming...

...repubs aren't there to govern. That's not what they're hired to do.

[Emile]

3. Chaos with dysfunction.

They don't know how to govern.

[sarcasmo]

2. Winters long government shutdown. The MAGA fools want to destroy our Social programs.