This week, when the main Republican budget writer spoke on the House floor about a plan to allocate tens of billions for military action, he carefully avoided mentioning “war”, “conflict”, or even “Iran”.
“Just baseline battlefield readiness” is how Jodey Arrington described the purpose of the $95bn budget proposal. “Bullets and bombs to finish the job and come home safely and victoriously, strengthen our food supply, and ultimately safeguard the integrity of our elections.”
It was an optimistic view of a risky situation for House Republicans just three months before voters head to the polls in November’s midterm elections amidst stubborn inflation, signs of a Democratic comeback, and low approval ratings both for military actions against Iran and Donald Trump’s presidency overall.
With Mike Johnson as speaker, House Republicans in their last working week before a long summer break chose not to change direction. They passed the war spending bill along party lines, approved an oversized military budget, and attempted several times to impose new voting restrictions nationwide.
“Many of you like to say that major legislating can’t happen in an election year. We just proved you wrong,” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday after casting votes.
Less than 24 hours later came a reminder of how Democrats could exploit divisions within the historically slim majority held by House Republicans when four dissenting Republicans teamed up with Democrats to pass a symbolic war powers resolution requiring Trump to withdraw troops from combat against Iran.
“You’re about to have hundreds of members of Congress go home to their constituents, and many folks are going to face serious backlash from them,” said Democratic congressman Jason Crow after that vote while outlining his party’s affordability agenda aimed at regaining power.
“They’re going to hear that people are losing healthcare, they’re losing their homes, they’re losing their farms, they’re losing their small businesses. And why the hell are you supporting $100bn for another endless war in Iran that’s not making us safer and contributing to the woes of the American people?”
The Thursday vote was an embarrassing setback for Johnson. However, his bigger concern was that his legislative efforts didn’t gain traction with his own party in the Senate.
Like twice before since Trump took office again, the House had crafted its budget plan using reconciliation procedures that bypassed Democrats’ ability to filibuster in the Senate allowing it to pass with just a simple majority.
Yet senior Republicans showed little interest in pushing through another such bill. Before even approving it in the House, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated he would place it on “hold” as potential leverage over Democrats during negotiations for ongoing government funding beyond its expiration on September 30. This raised concerns that decisions regarding spending related to conflict with Iran might remain unresolved until September.
While passing this year’s Pentagon budget-the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)-is usually seen as a significant success, Johnson complicated its chances by yielding to pressure from right-wing lawmakers and combining it with Trump’s Save America Act. This legislation aims at banning mail-in ballots while enforcing stricter ID requirements on voters during registration and voting.
But that’s not all: Democrats are also opposed due its hefty $1.15tn price tag; earlier this month they blocked progress on the Senate version out of protest against renewed fighting with Iran.
As they left Capitol Hill for a five-week break, House Republicans felt confident they’d make a strong case as to why voters should keep Democrats out of power during Trump’s final two years.
“Joe Biden and the Democrats are responsible for running this country into trouble; we’re here on a mission to save it. We’ve passed some good policies that actually work; we have a solid story ready for voters,” said Richard Hudson who leads the National Republican Congressional Committee-the party’s campaign arm in the House. Sign up t o Breaking News US Get th e most import ant news as i t breaks R e mi n d e r t o use i mages if poss ibl e g. i nfo _ h u gs _ t o k e n | |
Source link Nod ding t o th e par ty ’ s vict or ies i n th e re district ing battle , Hudson noted : “If y ou look at th e se ats tha t ar e up fo r grabs , it’s mo stly D emocrat s holding Trum p seats. For D emocrats t o take co ntrol , they’d need t o win ma ny Trum p seats , which isn’t likely.” I gnoring th e collapse of peace talks alon g wi th th er eturn o f hos tilities wit h Tehran , Ralph N orman , a staunch conservative fro m S outh C aro lina hoping t o fill Lindsey Graham’s vacated Senate seat , predicted that T rump is “at th e cusp o f ending this thing with Ir an ; he’ s doin g what needs doing ”. “ The A merican peopl e want things finished quickly. I be lieve he’ll get there,” he added. N eb ra ska ‘ s Don Ba con – one o f fe w R epubl icans repres enting districts won by K amala Harris tw o ye ars ago – express ed mild criticism toward T rump ’ s hand ling of th e wa r , suggesting tha t working alongside D emocrats could be more beneficial. “ The solo act doesn’t lead us anywhere good,” Bacon stated while declining reelection. “ But we do need help from them,” referring t o D emocrats ,” so I think he oughta reach across aisles more.” Despite all challenges faced by Hous e Republ icans , these issues don’t seem like solutions for D emocrats either.<div cla ss ="dc-r-a-ma-z-o-n-b —t-u-x—g-h-s-t–u –o-p-e-n—-e-f-u-l–h-r-c-n –r-o-t-p-c-h —g-i-d-e-w –v-i-m–c-y-g-p-j-" id= "_4z8e5l52u0tx3kdnm2v6oztxd0i23ng6ffn8n36wa5sp3nvihsgm4yp91cpndsi55ogibjrtddhwdych82uxkkke4ttcc6aqykdmzfcxzpkoyrz46omycijbv2jcoavdp59vlcf70ybkbkiagxfeowklxvwuyfqdoy9pq48wfkt5ewhpkgujsdjmhtoz8ek51vidbs22npst2ton3nwmwnrk66evpfvevircfemwsiojtpbtoehxuho9z53tehdhor44rsx93gyv45shmwiubaprbfwgvrzmmoecylbmqnzezb8if6oa25grmbujcbdtvprijty54yxmvkac32dzlphlfajsg12cpxdv33asyseyehwqwggvhdfqxdtuzazunir28eyxnzdwbk8zdbxmjs71zkdiizkvxojuuhtbduesyaizhvaxmt50aeosnrknceasuzakegfjxmqjqjmfjn90ao..< div cla ss ="dc-r-a-ma-z-o-n-b —t-u-x—g-h-s-t–u –o-p-e-n—-e-f-u-l–h-r-c-n –r-o-t-p-c-h —g-i-d-e-w –v-i-m–c-y-g-p-j-" id="_4z8e5l52u0tx3kdnm2v6oztxd0i23ng6ffn8n36wa5sp3nvihsgm4yp91cpndsi55ogibjrtddhwdych82uxkkke4ttcc6aqykdmzfcxzpkoyrz46omycijbv2jcoavdp59vlcf70ybkbkiagxfeowklxvwuyfqdoy9pq48wfkt5ewhpkgujsdjmhtoz8ek51vidbs22npst2ton3nwmwnrk66evpfvevircfemwsiojtpbtoehxuho9z53tehdhor44rsx93gyv45shmwiubaprbfwgvrzmmoecylbmqnzezb8if6oa25grmbujcbdtvprijty54yxmvkac32dzlphlfajsg12cpxdv33asyseyehwqwggvhdfqxdtuzazunir28eyxnzdwbk8zdbxmjs71zkdiizkvxojuuhtbduesyaizhvaxmt50aeosnrknceasuzakegfjxmqjqjmfjn90ao..
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“Joe Biden and the Democrats are responsible for running this country into trouble; we’re here on a mission to save it. We’ve passed some good policies that actually work; we have a solid story ready for voters,” said Richard Hudson who leads the National Republican Congressional Committee-the party’s campaign arm in the House. Sign up t o Breaking News US Get th e most import ant news as i t breaks R e mi n d e r t o use i mages if poss ibl e g. i nfo _ h u gs _ t o k e n | |
Source link Nod ding t o th e par ty ’ s vict or ies i n th e re district ing battle , Hudson noted : “If y ou look at th e se ats tha t ar e up fo r grabs , it’s mo stly D emocrat s holding Trum p seats. For D emocrats t o take co ntrol , they’d need t o win ma ny Trum p seats , which isn’t likely.” I gnoring th e collapse of peace talks alon g wi th th er eturn o f hos tilities wit h Tehran , Ralph N orman , a staunch conservative fro m S outh C aro lina hoping t o fill Lindsey Graham’s vacated Senate seat , predicted that T rump is “at th e cusp o f ending this thing with Ir an ; he’ s doin g what needs doing ”. “ The A merican peopl e want things finished quickly. I be lieve he’ll get there,” he added. N eb ra ska ‘ s Don Ba con – one o f fe w R epubl icans repres enting districts won by K amala Harris tw o ye ars ago – express ed mild criticism toward T rump ’ s hand ling of th e wa r , suggesting tha t working alongside D emocrats could be more beneficial. “ The solo act doesn’t lead us anywhere good,” Bacon stated while declining reelection. “ But we do need help from them,” referring t o D emocrats ,” so I think he oughta reach across aisles more.” Despite all challenges faced by Hous e Republ icans , these issues don’t seem like solutions for D emocrats either.<div cla ss ="dc-r-a-ma-z-o-n-b —t-u-x—g-h-s-t–u –o-p-e-n—-e-f-u-l–h-r-c-n –r-o-t-p-c-h —g-i-d-e-w –v-i-m–c-y-g-p-j-" id= "_4z8e5l52u0tx3kdnm2v6oztxd0i23ng6ffn8n36wa5sp3nvihsgm4yp91cpndsi55ogibjrtddhwdych82uxkkke4ttcc6aqykdmzfcxzpkoyrz46omycijbv2jcoavdp59vlcf70ybkbkiagxfeowklxvwuyfqdoy9pq48wfkt5ewhpkgujsdjmhtoz8ek51vidbs22npst2ton3nwmwnrk66evpfvevircfemwsiojtpbtoehxuho9z53tehdhor44rsx93gyv45shmwiubaprbfwgvrzmmoecylbmqnzezb8if6oa25grmbujcbdtvprijty54yxmvkac32dzlphlfajsg12cpxdv33asyseyehwqwggvhdfqxdtuzazunir28eyxnzdwbk8zdbxmjs71zkdiizkvxojuuhtbduesyaizhvaxmt50aeosnrknceasuzakegfjxmqjqjmfjn90ao..< div cla ss ="dc-r-a-ma-z-o-n-b —t-u-x—g-h-s-t–u –o-p-e-n—-e-f-u-l–h-r-c-n –r-o-t-p-c-h —g-i-d-e-w –v-i-m–c-y-g-p-j-" id="_4z8e5l52u0tx3kdnm2v6oztxd0i23ng6ffn8n36wa5sp3nvihsgm4yp91cpndsi55ogibjrtddhwdych82uxkkke4ttcc6aqykdmzfcxzpkoyrz46omycijbv2jcoavdp59vlcf70ybkbkiagxfeowklxvwuyfqdoy9pq48wfkt5ewhpkgujsdjmhtoz8ek51vidbs22npst2ton3nwmwnrk66evpfvevircfemwsiojtpbtoehxuho9z53tehdhor44rsx93gyv45shmwiubaprbfwgvrzmmoecylbmqnzezb8if6oa25grmbujcbdtvprijty54yxmvkac32dzlphlfajsg12cpxdv33asyseyehwqwggvhdfqxdtuzazunir28eyxnzdwbk8zdbxmjs71zkdiizkvxojuuhtbduesyaizhvaxmt50aeosnrknceasuzakegfjxmqjqjmfjn90ao..
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