House conservatives rested over the holidays, traveled to the border last week to issue some policy demands and say they’re ready to rumble.
Congress returns to Washington Tuesday, flirting with cutting off funding for big chunks of the government in 11 days unless demands are met for immigration and border restrictions. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced a deal Sunday on a total amount the government will spend in the new year, breaking one logjam but not necessarily erasing the threat of a shutdown after Jan. 19.
President Biden commended the glimmer of progress, with caveats. “Congressional Republicans must do their job, stop threatening to shut down the government, and fulfill their basic responsibility to fund critical domestic and national security priorities, including my supplemental [funding] request. It’s time for them to act,” he said in a statement.
Welcome to 2024, so much like 2023.
“The president has the existent authority under federal law to stem the flow [of migration],” Johnson told CBS’s “Face the Nation” during an interview broadcast Sunday. “If you instituted, reinstituted the [Trump era] Remain in Mexico policy, for example, it was estimated … that would stem the flow by maybe 70 percent. I mean, that’s a simple measure, an executive order that the White House could undertake. On his first day in office, President Biden came in and issued executive orders that began this chaos.”
Biden ended the Trump policy that required migrants seeking asylum to remain in Mexico until their U.S. immigration court dates. The Supreme Court said he had that authority. House conservatives adopted a measure last year that would reinstate Trump’s policy.
Johnson last week led a delegation of about 60 Republicans to the U.S. southern border. Calling the influx of migrants a “humanitarian catastrophe,” Johnson increased his calls for the president to exercise his executive authority to discourage migrants and asylum seekers from seeking to enter the U.S.
- CBS News: Pressured by record migrant crossings last month, the White House weighs whether to restrict a key presidential immigration authority to persuade Republican lawmakers to approve more aid to Ukraine and border funding.
- The Hill: Democrats face tough choices in border vs. shutdown scenario.
- The Washington Post: Congress has a $1.66 trillion deal to fund the government and not much time to pass it.
Johnson seeks his first major legislative deal as Speaker in an environment in which Freedom Caucus members could end his tenure if he crosses them this year. Ultimatums tied to threats of shutdowns are viewed by many in Congress as politically injurious in an election year. And former President Trump, focused on locking up his party’s nomination, is expected to call the shots on issues he considers his signatures. Immigration and border security are examples.
Johnson’s strategy and clout are being tested.
“Right now I just don’t think he really is serious enough. I don’t think he has the gravitas or has the ability to control the far right,” former Virginia Rep. Denver Riggleman, who said last year that he switched his affiliation from Republican to independent, told Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power” on Thursday.
“They are actually following the marching orders of Donald Trump. … He is the one pushing the message here and Mike Johnson is just going to be a mouthpiece,” Riggleman predicted.
3 THINGS TO KNOW
- The Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 plane that lost a piece of its fuselage in midair on Friday was not being used in long flights over water because a pressurization warning light had gone off during three previous flights. Workers reset the system rather than locating the cause and put the aircraft back in service before Friday’s midair mishap. The plane’s missing piece was found near Portland in a schoolteacher’s backyard and will be retrieved by the National Transportation Safety Board.
- Only 13 electric vehicle models now qualify for the $7,500 federal tax credit because vehicles made with certain Chinese-made parts are now excluded by the Treasury Department.
- “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s epic about the creator of the atomic bomb, reigned at the 81st Golden Globe Awards on Sunday. On the small screen, “Succession” racked up four awards. Check out a full list of winners.
