{"id":5334,"date":"2023-11-01T05:03:47","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T05:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/politics\/mike-johnson-tests-his-new-power-with-risky-gambit-on-israel\/"},"modified":"2023-11-01T05:03:47","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T05:03:47","slug":"mike-johnson-tests-his-new-power-with-risky-gambit-on-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=5334","title":{"rendered":"Mike Johnson tests his new power with risky gambit on Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n New House Speaker Mike Johnson is already tying Washington in new partisan knots.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Republican majority\u2019s rookie leader is painting deep red conservative lines on the blank page of his career in top-level politics, staking out a risky showdown with Democrats and even Senate Republicans over Israel funding that could either build his power base or fracture his authority from the start.\n <\/p>\n

\n Johnson\u2019s tactics suggest that he is either likely to be as much a hostage to hard-right conservatives as his predecessor Kevin McCarthy was \u2013 or that, as one of them himself, he is resolved to use his tenure to stoke fresh chaos and confrontation.\n <\/p>\n

\n His decision to seek huge cuts to Internal Revenue Service funding to pay for a $14 billion emergency aid package to Israel shows that even an ally fighting an existential war is not immune from the stunt politics of a House GOP that spends more time pleasing conservative media than running the country. The Louisiana Republican is also opening new wounds in the GOP. His refusal to accept President Joe Biden\u2019s request to tie together aid to Israel and Ukraine also set up a confrontation with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, raising the prospect of a new round of Republican-on-Republican tension following three weeks of internal feuding over the speakership.\n <\/p>\n

\n Johnson\u2019s willingness to stage the first battle of his tenure over the Israel package will also burn precious time just over two weeks ahead of a possible government shut down if new federal funding isn\u2019t approved. His muscle flexing may be an attempt to build political capital among hardliners as he positions himself for the far bigger funding fight in which he could face the kind of painful concessions to keep the government open that toppled McCarthy. But if he pushes McConnell and the Democratic-run Senate too far, he could create new enemies animosity that will shape the coming funding showdown.\n <\/p>\n

\n Johnson\u2019s moves are particularly interesting because he was largely unknown outside the House GOP until he emerged as a fallback speaker candidate after three weeks of self-destructive party clashes to replace the ousted McCarthy. Johnson is also new to managing a fractious GOP conference that far more experienced speakers, most recently McCarthy, found impossible to control. An early test will come over how he navigates resolutions condemning the behavior of members of both parties \u2013 which some will see as a distraction as the deadline to fund the government nears. His first significant moves in the top job will also be critical to setting expectations for the country\u2019s newest high-ranking political leader, who will \u2013 if he survives \u2013 play a vital role in the run-up to the 2024 election as the GOP seeks to cling to its tiny House majority or even expand it.\n <\/p>\n

\n But the immediate House showdown over Israel and Ukraine funding also underscores how Washington\u2019s partisan angst, deepened by anti-government extremists in the GOP conference, is undermining President Joe Biden\u2019s efforts to exert US leadership overseas amid multiple crises. US adversaries like China and Russia are relying on domestic dysfunction in Washington to bolster their challenges to US power and perceptions of the country\u2019s capacity to fulfill its global commitments. \u201cUS leadership and credibility is at stake here,\u201d Beth Sanner, a former deputy director for National Intelligence, said on \u201cCNN News Central\u201d on Tuesday. \u201cThe Republicans say Biden isn\u2019t showing strength. Well, they are actually making it a lot harder for this president to show strength and US leadership by handling the funding in the way that they are with all this shenanigans,\u201d Sanner said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Johnson surprises by picking Israel funding as his first test of credibility<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

\n Johnson\u2019s hard ball play on Israel funding came as a surprise given that some of the urgency for ending the speakership impasse last week was to swiftly clear a funding package following the Hamas attacks. Johnson\u2019s move to offset the $14.3 billion price tag with cuts to IRS funding included in Biden\u2019s Inflation Reduction Act means further certain delay for the bill. It does honor conservatives\u2019 demands for steep spending cuts that will also be at the centerpiece of the coming collision over government funding. But it\u2019s unclear whether Johnson can deliver given that Democrats control the Senate and the White House. The Biden administration on Tuesday formally threatened to veto the House GOP\u2019s standalone Israel aid bill.\n <\/p>\n

\n The new speaker could have multiple motivations.\n <\/p>\n

\n The inclusion of the offsets could indicate that Johnson needs to placate his most hardline members even to pass a measure as popular as Israel funding. That would spell early problems for his speakership since it would show that he is just as constrained by the tiny GOP majority \u2013 he can afford to lose only four votes and still pass legislation on a party-line vote \u2013 as McCarthy was.\n <\/p>\n

\n Alternatively, Johnson could be aiming to drive a wedge among Democrats at a time when conservatives are focusing on pressure building on the president from his hard left wing, which has criticized Israel\u2019s response to the terror attacks and thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza. Forcing some Democrats to vote against funding for Israel could lay the groundwork for future campaign ads ahead of the next election. The National Republican Congressional Committee seemed to confirm this strategy in a post on X on Monday that read: \u201cExtreme House Democrats have a decision to make: IRS audits of middle-class Americans or supporting Israel.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n One Jewish Democrat, Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida, accused Republicans of politicizing aid for Israelis \u201cin their greatest time of need.\u201d He added: \u201cThey\u2019re setting a political trap. It\u2019s completely outrageous. It\u2019s not serious policy,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not falling for the trap, because they want us to vote no,\u201d he said, vowing to back the Israel aid despite his opposition to trimming IRS funding.\n <\/p>\n

\n However it plays out, Johnson will likely have to change course when an Israel funding bill returns to the House after action in the Senate, where Democratic leadership opposes the IRS offsets. At that point, however, Republicans may be ready to pocket their political goals after jamming Democrats and placating some of their right-wing members. Still, all this will take time that the House can ill afford with the government due to run out of money after November 17.\n <\/p>\n

\n The government shutdown clock will also tick down a few more hours on Wednesday as Johnson seeks to deal with a trio of political controversies that reflect the uproar in the narrowly divided House. The chamber is expected to vote on a censure resolution introduced by GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia against Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian American from Michigan who has severely criticized Israel. Then the House is expected to take up a Democrat-filed resolution condemning Greene for having \u201cfanned the flames\u201d of apparent racism, antisemitism and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. The House will also turn to attempts to expel New York Rep. George Santos, who is facing multiple criminal charges including wire fraud and identify theft \u2013 to which he has pleaded not guilty. The attempt to oust the freshman Republican is a long shot, largely because his departure would further narrow an already minuscule GOP majority that leaves Johnson with almost no room for maneuver.\n <\/p>\n

\n Johnson tees up a head-to-head with McConnell<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

\n Johnson\u2019s decision to use his new power to tee up a challenge with McConnell \u2013 who has decades more experience in both the House and the Senate \u2013 represents a daring move and shows how the far right-wing of the GOP disdains the political titans of the establishment.\n <\/p>\n

\n McConnell \u2013 a particular target of ex-President Donald Trump, who\u2019s the front-runner for the GOP nomination in 2024 \u2013 renewed his call on Tuesday for funding for Israel and Ukraine to be tied together. His stance reflects the bipartisan majority in the Senate for a position that Biden says is vital to US credibility abroad. Even before the Israeli-Hamas war erupted, the multi-billion dollar pipeline for arms and ammunition that is helping Ukraine survive its onslaught from Russian President Vladimir Putin was under threat, amid rising Republican opposition \u2013 partly fueled by Trump\u2019s resistance to backing the Kyiv government.\u00a0The aid package also contains funding for Taiwan \u2013 another key Biden administration foreign policy \u2013 and a request for more financing for southern border projects, which is typically a Republican priority.\n <\/p>\n

\n McConnell on Tuesday delivered a deadpan lesson on the reality of divided government in Washington \u2013 one that hard-right House members don\u2019t want to hear: \u201cIn order to make a law, it has to pass both bodies and be signed by the president.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But Kentucky\u2019s other GOP senator, Rand Paul, backed Johnson\u2019s position, arguing that it might be essential to his survival in the speakership. \u201cI think the speaker is smart to separate out the Israeli aid. I think he\u2019s also frankly smart to do the conservative thing and actually pay for it by taking money from somewhere else in the budget,\u201d Paul told CNN\u2019s Manu Raju. The senator also accused McConnell of trying to undercut Johnson and of going against the base of the GOP. \u201cI think McConnell\u2019s position is very, very unpopular in Kentucky but also very, very unpopular in the United States,\u00a0and I think ultimately will fail or bring down the speaker, which I don\u2019t think is a good idea,\u201d Paul said. Some other Senate conservatives are also at odds with their leader, backing the decoupling of Israel and Ukraine aid.\n <\/p>\n

\n But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned that Johnson had sacrificed Israel\u2019s interests to make a nakedly political point.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe new speaker knows perfectly well if you want to help Israel, you can\u2019t propose legislation that is full of poison pills,\u201d the New York Democrat said. \u201cThis House GOP proposal is clearly designed to divide Congress on a partisan basis.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The controversy led senior administration officials on Tuesday to forcefully argue that US credibility was at stake around the globe.\n <\/p>\n

\n Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Senate Appropriations Committee there were \u201cclear links\u201d between the wars in Israel and Ukraine. He argued that since the US had cut off Russia\u2019s military supply lines after the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has turned to Iran \u2013 a key backer of Hamas \u2013 for support with military technology. Russia had in turn, Blinken said, supplied advanced military technology to Tehran that threatens Israel\u2019s security. \u201cAllowing Russia to prevail with Iran\u2019s support will simply embolden both Moscow and Iran,\u201d the top US diplomat warned.\n <\/p>\n

\n At the same hearing, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that a failure by the US to continue supporting Ukraine would hand victory to Putin and critically endanger the safety of NATO states.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf Putin is successful, he will not stop at Ukraine. And if you\u2019re a Baltic state, you\u2019re thinking \u2018I\u2019m next.\u2019 And, you know, there\u2019s no question in my mind that sooner or later, he will challenge NATO and we\u2019ll find ourselves in a shooting match.\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New House Speaker Mike Johnson is already tying Washington in new partisan knots. The Republican majority\u2019s rookie leader is painting deep red conservative lines on the blank page of his career in top-level politics, staking out a risky showdown with Democrats and even Senate Republicans over Israel funding that could either build his power base or fracture his authority from the start. Johnson\u2019s tactics suggest that he is either likely to be as much a hostage to hard-right conservatives as his predecessor Kevin McCarthy was \u2013 or that, as one of them himself, he is resolved to use his tenure<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nMike Johnson tests his new power with risky gambit on Israel | ConnectWithFund<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New House Speaker Mike Johnson is already tying Washington in new partisan knots. 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