By mehaniq41 @Adobe Stock
Taking Obstruction to a New Level
As the drama over votes for the House’s foreign aid continues, the WSJ’s Kimberley Strassel explains a key point that she writes, “keep getting lost.” A sizable majority of Congress, and of the country, claims Ms. Strassel, wants to fund Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan.
The only reason that aid isn’t already law is because a determined minority—one that loves to preach “regular order” and “debate” and the “will of the House”—has taken obstruction to new levels.
Speaker Mike Johnson is facing down threats to his leadership with an overdue package of bills to support allies defending themselves from terrorists and dictators. Most of Congress has been calling for this aid since Hamas’s October attack on Israel. A vote on aid then would have passed easily. As it would now.
In the Bizarro World created by those who opposed Kevin McCarthy’s elevation to speaker, votes have been held hostage. Those who spoke passionately about wanting to make Congress “work” again or insisted they were sick of leaders disappearing into back rooms to produce 5,000-page bills for quick votes, claim to be tired of a powerful few calling all the shots.
They wanted committees back in charge. They wanted 72 hours to read bills. They wanted debate, amendments, an open process. All worthy, necessary reforms.
Why No Progress
Alongside these demands to make Congress “function,” the holdouts simultaneously insisted on powers that ensure it can’t. They demanded that they—a minority—be given the ability to grind the House to a halt if they didn’t get exactly the policies they wanted. That included seats on the Rules Committee, the funnel for any bills to hit the floor under regular order. Also, infamously, the right for any member to force a vote to oust the speaker at will.
The Tail-Wagging-the-Dog Syndrome
What could be worse than no longer having a powerful faction of party leaders dictating what happens in the House? Well, yes, we got something worse:
Party-elected leaders have been replaced by a tiny tail of un-elected back-benchers that wags the congressional dog. They don’t care about “the will of the House.” If they don’t like a bill, they kill it in Rules. If the speaker moves a policy they don’t like, they threaten his firing.
According to a former Trump official, Mr. Johnson deserves firing for “choosing to govern against the clear wishes of the vast majority of grassroots conservatives who are educated on the issues”—”meaning who agree with him.”
In a survey conducted by the American Action Network:
A plurality of Republican primary voters support aid to Ukraine:
- 86% hold an unfavorable view of Vladimir Putin
- more than 80% favor refilling U.S. stockpiles and rebuilding U.S. defense capacity, as the Ukraine aid bill provides.
Anti-Ukraine types will trash the poll, but it’s no outlier, explains Ms. Strassel:
According to an Associated Press-NORC poll from late February:
- 68% of Republicans say it’s important to stop Russia from gaining more territory in Ukraine.
From a Pew poll the same month:
- 69% of Republicans believe the Ukraine war is “important to U.S. national interests.” All were conducted beforeDonald Trump signaled support for aid packaged as a loan.
A Troubling Trend
What is worrisome, argues Ms. Strassel, is “the rush to substitute raw power for the democratic process. Presidents circumvent Congress with lawless executive actions; political parties sue to rig election rules; prosecutors seek to disqualify the opposition. “
And so-called conservative Republicans rig the House process … to dictate outcomes.
Oh, for the quaint days of building support for ideas—and winning votes and elections.
