Nov 15, 2023
Republican House Speaker ABANDONS Far-Right In Surprising Shutdown Blow
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is forced to rely on Democrats and avoid opposition from far-right members of his own party, which was the reasoning for Kevin McCarthy's ousting, in order to pass a Government shutdown aversion plan vote. John Iadarola and Jayar Jackson break it down on The Damage Report.
- 5 minutes
On this vote, the A's are 336,
the nays are 95,
two thirds being in the affirmative, the
rules are suspended, the bill is passed.
>> Speaker 2: Okay, I have to admit,
little bit surprised.
The House of Representatives has
actually passed their sort of specific,
[00:00:18]
segmented out stopgap funding bill to
allow for the government to remain funded.
That actually happened,
it happened before the deadline.
Now, the reason that it happened had very
little to do with the Republicans who
control the House, but the new speaker
was able to actually make it happen.
[00:00:36]
I guess passing one of the first tests of
sort of the bare minimum of allowing our
government to continue to run.
So, as I said, obviously Democrats
were integral to this, almost all
the Democrats, by the way, but a majority
of Republicans did actually vote for this.
[00:00:51]
The way that it was being discussed
required a two thirds vote.
So an even higher threshold, but because
they had basically all the Democrats,
they were able to pass that 336 to 95.
So that is quite a few Republicans
that are still opposed to it, and
[00:01:06]
we're certainly going to get to
some of their rationales for that.
But if you didn't see our coverage earlier
this week, I wanna remind you of how long,
assuming the Senate goes along with this,
this would allow the government
to continue to function.
It would fund federal agencies at current
spending levels with two different
[00:01:24]
expiration dates.
So for some government programs,
fairly core ones, by the way,
January 19 would be the extension.
For others,
it would be February the second.
There's going to be a number of issues,
including, as we talked about, military
aid to Israel and Ukraine and some
policies having to do with the border,
[00:01:40]
they're going to require
separate discussions.
So this now provides them with
a couple of months to dive into that.
And that is where those hardline
conservatives will definitely be trying to
get what they want.
But while I guess it's a good thing
that it is going to be extended,
I also want to remind everyone
that as annoyed as like.
[00:01:57]
I might be covering the constant battle
to just keep the government funding, and
you might be having to hear
these stories over and over.
Reminder that most people agree with us
that this is stupid and it needs to end.
Three quarters of Americans don't think
that government shutdowns should be
[00:02:15]
a tool used to pursue
your political strategy.
23% think that it's acceptable and
what do you know?
Right now, Republicans are more than
twice as likely, 37% to Democrats,
18% to say that you should be
able to use it to bargain.
I would guess that when
the Democrats are in charge,
[00:02:32]
that's probably reverse, but in either
case, it is a very minority position.
Someday we got to fix this system.
But JR,
are you surprised that they got a deal?
>> Speaker 3: They always do eventually,
even when they do the things like hold up
[00:02:48]
and shut down the government for
a week or two or even a couple weeks.
And go through the process of showing
just how bad they are at this or
how much they really can't get
away from their own selves.
So yeah,
I guess in a way I'm surprised, but
also it always ends up that
way at the end of it all.
[00:03:03]
But Mike Johnson being a part about this
is really where this whole thing changes
because look,
Kevin McCarthy was trying to do this too.
It didn't really work out for
him as we saw what happened his way, but
Mike Johnson, who was one of the people,
who was always one of the disruptors.
Part of the group that was against
the normal way that they do things and
[00:03:18]
they could have their issues with,
know some of the points that people make
about the way that the funding happens.
And handouts and giveaways and
inserting things that don't have anything
necessary to do with certain bills.
And even when it comes to spending,
I get all that stuff.
If they actually go and specifically go
about that, then you could have some more,
[00:03:36]
I guess, credence behind your argument.
But when it's just destroy
the government and let's block that so
we can get our way even though we don't
have enough of a majority to do so.
That's just petulant behavior and doesn't
have much to do with being a responsible
official, elected official,
instead of do the work of the people.
[00:03:54]
It goes back to this
them again themselves.
But then once Mike Johnson is in charge
just a few weeks ago gets in charge,
suddenly this guy knows how to try and
work with other folks cuz obviously
they need Democrats to get this through.
And then is able to work
with other folks and
then do the things that
he was always against.
Weird how that works.
[00:04:10]
I didn't know this is gonna become a Kevin
McCarthy credit session, but a little bit.
Dude's doing the same.
>> Speaker 2: You're sort of getting to
like there's these multiple levels of
irresponsibility and performative
stupidity for representatives.
[00:04:27]
They're obviously going to use this
as a tool to accomplish their goals.
But how willing are they actually to
have the government shut down for
a long time or just to not actually
make good on our national debt?
We know that those in charge have always
said that they're willing to do that, but
[00:04:43]
that would also, if that were to happen.
It hurts all of their buddies at
the golf courses and their fancy dinner.
So they don't actually want that.
And I guess maybe Johnson,
you can now add into that list.
It was a sort of open question of whether
he actually would be on that side of it.
But there are dozens other, I think,
[00:05:00]
who maybe actually are willing to
let everything get set on fire.
And so far, they don't have enough power
that there aren't enough of them to
actually make it happen, but feels like
we're moving in that direction, everyone.
So race for impact.
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The Damage Report: November 15, 2023
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