Mike Johnson's partisan trick
How long, people wondered, would it be before the new House speaker showed his true stripes caving to the right-wingers in his caucus? Would it be a matter of weeks? Months?
As it's turned out, it was just a matter of days.
Literally within days of taking the speaker's gavel, he is playing politics with aid to Israel.
The president, who has stood steadfastly by Israel's side, requested an aid package for $105 billion, combining aid to Israel with aid to Ukraine and Taiwan. House Speaker Mike Johnson stripped it down, eliminating the aid to Ukraine and Taiwan as well as funds for border security, and limiting the proposed House package to the $14.3 billion slotted for Israel.
He did so knowing that he was turning what should be a bipartisan package into one that is a nonstarter not only with Democrats but with his own party in the Senate.
"Hamas was just hosted by the Russians in Moscow. ... I think breaking them out (aid to Ukraine) sends the wrong signal." I'm not quoting Chuck Schumer, the pro-Israel majority leader, but Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, has insisted that aid to Ukraine should be in the same package as aid to Israel.
Make no mistake. Johnson is not seeking to outdo Democrats in his support for Israel, although he is certainly not above making hay out of forcing Democrats to oppose an aid package for Israel alone. Because his version of an aid bill to Israel conditions that assistance on cuts to the Internal Revenue Service, which saw an increase in its budget aimed at ensuring that corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes.
It's a "nonstarter," according to the White House press secretary. "Playing political games that threaten the source of funding for Israel's self-defense - now and into the future - would set an unacceptable precedent that calls our commitment to one of our closest allies into question," the White House press secretary said in a statement. "We cannot afford to jeopardize that commitment as Israel defends itself from the evil unleashed by Hamas."
Cutting funding to the boogeyman IRS is a key item on the crazy right-wing agenda. Forget about all the studies that say that fully funding the IRS is critical to cutting the deficit. This is not because more middle-class families will be audited; the purpose of the funds that were added to the IRS budget is to ensure that corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes.
But don't tell that to Johnson, who wasted no time at all in getting on the hard-right bandwagon, wrongly trying to convince middle-class taxpayers that they are the ones who will be paying the bill if the IRS budget isn't cut.
The IRS has absolutely nothing to do with Israel. Tying the two together is popular with right-wing Republicans. Accusing Democrats of voting against Israel is a partisan trick, with no treat attached.
The House passed Johnson's aid bill on Thursday in a partisan division that sends all the wrong messages. "In my worst nightmares, I never thought I would be asked to vote for a bill cynically conditioning aid to Israel on ceding to the partisan demands of one party," Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois told reporters. "I also never thought that a day would come that I would be asked to consider voting against an aid package for Israel, our most important ally in the Middle East, and maybe in the world." He voted no, as did the Democrats overwhelmingly, in what turned out to be a 226-196 vote. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in advance that the Senate will not even take up the bill.
With Hamas vowing more attacks like the one on Oct. 7, the new speaker is sending the message that playing partisan politics comes first. Shame on him.
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