by Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch
The clash of governance and politics is intense in Washington this week.
A day after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he reached an agreement with Senate Democrats on an overall $1.66 trillion total for government funding in 2024, his right flank on Monday dismissed the effort as a “total failure,” sending jittery chills through the Capitol among lawmakers who desperately want to avoid shutting down parts of the federal machinery in 10 days, and at the start of an election year (The Hill).
Is Johnson a savvy dealmaker or, as some critics predict, a dead man walking within the House’s hard right while former President Trump, de facto leader of the Republican Party, calls the shots? An accord to clear four appropriations measures by Jan. 19 and another eight by Feb. 2 will rely on votes from Democrats. To many in Congress, it’s about governing. To some inside the Freedom Caucus, it’s akin to political desertion.
Are we learning that negotiating with the Democrats in the White House and Senate with a slim majority is hard and you can’t get everything you want, no matter who is in the Speaker’s office?” Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) commented on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The New York Times: Far right balks as Congress begins push to enact spending deal.
Meanwhile, Biden delivered a South Carolina campaign speech Monday that assailed Trump for trying to turn an election “loss into a lie.” But he also found himself confronted by protestors opposed to his handling of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Trump, who is campaigning to button up the GOP nomination, is in courtrooms twice this week, maneuvering to use political and legal arguments to defer or dismiss his many indictments until after the election.
In the Senate, the urgency of keeping the government’s lights on may sideline other, more difficult legislative aspirations, such as crafting a border security compromise, which has been a demand of some House and Senate Republicans who advocate for stricter immigration changes before they will consider Biden’s request for $106 billion in supplemental U.S. aid for Ukraine and Israel.
Many senators think a government funding face-off later this month would undercut the bipartisan talks to get a border security accord, seen for decades as out of reach because of the political stakes, especially in election years. Republicans describe the surge of migration as Biden’s “crisis,” while the president has said he’s willing to compromise within limits. Draft border law changes developed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers won’t be ready for review this week, Fox News reports.
“I would say as recently as yesterday, I was thinking, ‘I think we’re close,’ but in all of our meetings last night and today, we’re not — we’re not going to be able to get there,” lead negotiator Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said of his goal to circulate legislative language.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters, “We’ve made more progress in the past couple of days on the border than we have in the past few weeks,” adding, “It is not yet finished but I am more hopeful right now, even more than I was a few days ago, that we can get something meaningful done on the border.”
- CBS News: Here’s what’s on Congress’s to-do list as lawmakers return to work.
- The Hill: House panels on Monday released contempt of Congress resolutions and reports aimed at Hunter Biden ahead of Wednesday votes in committees.
- The Hill: Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) announced Monday he will retire when his term ends next year.
3 Things to Watch
- 84-year-old Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), a former House majority leader, will file paperwork for reelection today. It would be his 23rd term.
- Taiwan’s Defense Ministry issued an alert Tuesday saying China launched a satellite and urging caution ahead of the island’s presidential and parliamentary elections Saturday. Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory and casts the elections as a choice between peace and war across the Taiwan Strait.
- Biden on Monday renominated Julie Su to be secretary of Labor. She has served as acting secretary of the department since last year amid continued opposition to her nomination by all Republican senators and two Democrats.
