New Republican House Speaker, Mike Johnson, just passed the exact same bill that got former House speaker Kevin McCarthy booted. 
House Passes GOP Plan to Avert Government Shutdown
All but two Democrats (209 of 211) but only 127 of 220 Republicans voted to pass a clean spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.
The Wall Street Journal reports House Passes GOP Plan to Avert Government Shutdown, but I have to ask: Was this spending bill a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?
The 336-95 vote exceeded a two-thirds threshold required under a special procedure employed by Johnson to sidestep internal GOP disagreements. The measure still requires approval from the Democratic-controlled Senate, where the leaders of both parties have signaled support but timing was uncertain.
The bill’s passage showed many lawmakers had little appetite for brinkmanship just ahead of their Thanksgiving break, opting for a “clean” measure that extends funding at current levels but pushes off fights over issues including border security, federal spending levels and Ukraine funding. Just ahead of the vote, House Democratic leaders threw their support behind the measure, saying it avoided “harmful cuts and…extreme right-wing policy riders.”
In remarks Tuesday before the vote, Johnson said he was no fan of short-term spending patches—called continuing resolutions or CRs—and acknowledged the bill didn’t contain GOP policy wins.
House Republicans, said Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R., Tenn.), “all agree we need to get the federal government on a more fiscally responsible path, but lengthy government shutdowns don’t save money.”
Some Republicans complained the measure lacked border-security provisions or immediate spending cuts they favor. Some also reject short-term spending patches on principle.
Rep. Chip Roy (R., Texas), a leader of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, said he couldn’t back a measure that lacked even incremental spending cuts and didn’t address border concerns.
At one point, Rep. Tim Burchett (R., Tenn.) chased down McCarthy, accusing him of deliberately elbowing him in the back as the men were passing in a hall way.
“Hey Kevin, you got any guts?” yelled Burchett, who is one of the eight Republicans who voted with Democrats to oust McCarthy from the speakership. McCarthy denied he elbowed him. McCarthy’s chief nemesis, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.) immediately filed an ethics complaint against him.
Relying on House Democrats came with some risk for Johnson, who was elected to the speakership less than three weeks ago. McCarthy was removed last month after he endorsed a temporary spending bill that passed with more Democratic support than Republican votes.
Three Things
Ahead of the vote to oust McCarthy I said three things: 1) Some gains are better than none 2) The eight people who ousted McCarthy would not set policy 3) The GOP would get nothing out of ousting McCarthy.
Correct on all three counts.
Many people thought that meant my statements meant that I like McCarthy. I don’t. I was just offering a pragmatic view of what was going to happen.
As noted in McCarthy’s House Bill Goes Down in Embarrassing 198-232 Vote.
I commented ….
One and Only Winner
The only winner in this battle is the Democrats. The idea that 10-12 holdouts are going to swing this puppy is nonsensical.
You may or may not agree with what Matt Gaetz wants, but that is irrelevant.
Gaetz is gleeful over handing a talking point to Democrats. No good can possibly come from it.
The House Passes Bill Averting a Government Shutdown, Senate Approval Expected
Flashback September 30: The House Passes Bill Averting a Government Shutdown, Senate Approval Expected
Nothing Instead of Something
And here we are. Instead of getting something, Republicans get nothing.
McCarthy now taunts Gaetz: “If somebody wants to make a motion against me, bring it.”
Total Clown Show
McCarthy offered to try for some things the Gaetz wanted. Gaetz’s hero replacement, Mike Johnson, did not even try.
I am pretty confident McCarthy could have at least gotten a victory regarding the border. Some Democrats would have voted for that.
What a hoot!
I ask again: Was this spending bill a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?
Maybe at some future date Johnson gets what McCarthy was willing to try for. Don’t count on it.
I repeat, Eight House Republicans are not going to set political agenda and something is better than nothing. You are delusional if you believe otherwise.
I find it a little unsettling that the House has adjourned until after Thanksgiving. When does the governing start, like actually taking votes on the budget, farm bill, border control, aid to U & I? We can all disagree about what we would like to see voted, but each of these issues is important and we can’t even start the debates because the players are taking another nap. House Speaker Johnson seems to need a lot of rest. So far a 10 week session got us a two month delay. What is unsustainable is the unwillingness to govern.
There was an article in the South China Morning Post (I mention this as illustration that our economic rivals are openly discussing the issue). The writer pointed out Bill Clinton was visiting the White House last January to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Family Leave Act… and yet he (Clinton) is still three years younger than Biden!
Biden, Trump, McCarthy, Schumer, Yellen… all have delusional plans to spend trillions more than the tax base can afford to pay, and keep doing so for the indefinite future. Mostly on stuff outside of US borders which they refuse to protect.
“We” are going to spend, “we” will need to make sacrifices at some undetermined point in the future, but now is not the time.
The first “we” intends to spend and leave younger “we” to pay the bills. No one outside the political class is being fooled. There is an entire generation of politicians, both parties, who have done nothing but spend out of control their entire lives.
I have a neighbor who was an airline pilot years ago. He was forced to retire at 65, and taught flying lessons for a few years after that. Cessna are nice planes, but its not the same as flying a 7×7 he said.
Back when he was 65, he was “too old” to have 200 passengers in his hands. But the leadership in DC (both parties) are at least 10 years older than that and they are trusted with millions of lives?
Mish (who is retired himself? still younger than the political leadership of both parties?) may be trying to add some levity with his “hooting” joke… but there is nothing funny about Washington DC.
Massive spending cuts are coming. The only question is whether those cuts will be determined by US citizens or by foreign creditors.
All very true. Including pilots being forced to retire by the regionals. Many can still get corporate contract work if they want to train on smaller jets. They pay very well.
I’m guessing that since he was 65, he’s seen numerous layoffs like what we’ve recently seen with Covid. They pay well if you can stay working for 10 years and somehow avoid slowdowns.
The neighbor pilot has been out of the seat for years, and has moved on to other things. There are pilots who really SHOULD retire at 60 (don’t wait to 65), and there are pilots are still OK at 70.
The people in Washington should not automatically get a drivers license renewal, much less be allowed to borrow trillions in other people’s names. The average US citizen is supposedly 37, but the average member of Congress is almost 66… how is that representative?
I don’t know which ones will have passed away, and which will have mush for brains (Biden’s and McConnell’s are already mush), but it is nonsense to suggest any of them are going to even help repay the debts they are issuing today.
I think you are safe to add Fetterman to that list.
We are headed for a Great Depression that will hit around 2030. This is caused by BOTH parties. Neither one are representing the citizens.
The government will place blame on everything but themselves. Just like what they did with inflation. They will say things like “this is World-wide therefore there was nothing we could have done.”
The 3 biggest key components to it will be:
#1 National Debt- to put it into perspective, it’s like you making an income of $150,000/year and you have a credit card balance of $1,500,000 with an interest payment of 5%. Meanwhile you are gifting your friends $10,000 to help them fight their neighbors. You also spend $200,000/year which keeps adding to your debt.
#2 An aging population and a loss of family values – The Baby Boomers are the largest population in the USA. Most have retired and the rest will by 2030. That means their income tax is dropping dramatically and they aren’t spending much. From the government’s POV the Boomers are becoming a liability. As they age, it will cost the government a lot of money. This is the real reason why our healthcare isn’t covering as much as what they ever were in the past. This is why doctors don’t make decisions based on what’s good for you, they base it on if insurance will pay for it.
As far as family values, most other generations have become selfish. They would rather not work then start families. It’s very rare they have more than 2 children when they do. This all leads to less income tax being generated for the government.
#3 SS and Medicare are running out – This topic is obvious and we all know what needs to be done. It’s why we save, invest, spend only on necessities, and find free entertainment on Mishtalk that also helps us invest.
There are other components like other countries having less money to buy our debt, wars, lack of enforcing laws, corruption ect.
This depression will last about 6 years. Lets hope we don’t lose loved ones over it or that war finds it’s way to our land.
There is no way to avoid it. We can only prepare by being personally financially responsible and teach family values to your own family.
I checked the webpage http://www.usaspending.gov to actually see what the problem is with getting the budget done. For 2023- 8.3T$ -spending and- 1.7T$ -deficit. It seems like it is a simple problem of reducing spending or increasing revenue by 20% or so. A year has come and gone and all that has been discussed is the due date to complete this task. Everyone has been standing around waiting for someone else to solve this.
How about congress reviewing each budget item and deciding what the essential amount of spending is required (somewhere between zero and infinite) . Then adjusting taxes to match the spend. I can help here with an idea to start – zero out the covid give-away programs (about 50 Billion ) .
That’s their Legal Fee’s! You can’t take them, or they will be out of business, and let’s just say, a lot of others as well…
Start with the military!
An insurance company with an army masquerading as a real country. That’s the US
You can say whatever you want about Johnson but one thing you cannot say is that he profited financially from being a Member of Congress. I am sure many “opportunities” were presented to him but he declined so he has a reputation as being honest and that is a powerful tool to have even in Congress. Reminds me of someone else.
Good point, as is the fact that he has been very Consistent in his voting and stances, and that is invaluable, if you truly want to know who you’re looking at, and dealing with.
I like him so far in the hot seat, and he doesn’t appear to be intimidated at all, which was a rare, but small fear I had about him. The other has not come up yet, so I will await that opinion about him.
The Clown Show – Texas Style:
“Border bill that creates a new state crime for entering Texas illegally heads to governor’s desk”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/15/politics/texas-border-bill-abbott/index.html
Believe it or not: “Texas state Sen. Brian Birdwell, a Republican and author of the previous version of SB4, expressed his opposition to the bill on the floor of the Senate last week. He said Texas was setting a ‘terrible precedent’ by ‘invalidating our obedience and faithfulness to our Constitution’ – which specifies that ‘all power and responsibility for immigration is delegated to the federal government.’”
Mish,
You have a somewhat naïve (though better than most) view of the GOP. GOP Congressmen and Senators can’t really do anything about spending and they know it. The real spending issues are Social Security, defense and healthcare. Every one of those things are extremely popular among the population, and the defense and healthcare industries are the major contributors to their campaigns. All other spending is insignificant in comparison so they can not, ever, bring down deficits or the national debt, which would require significant tax increases which are off the table.
What do you do in the situation where everyone wants you to cut stuff, just not their stuff? Well you blame the Democrats! But the problem is, they’ve been doing that for 30 years. And it is the Democrats that are supporting the popular programs. So the majority are no longer listening.
So you take the last step: you blame other Republicans. You blame them for not “fighting!” enough (which no one is going to do because it would be political suicide). And in blaming them, you gain as much notoriety as you can in order to maximize your net worth by constant fund raising and television appearances. That’s where the GOP is, and it is only going to get worse.
And of course they’re going to pass Democratic initiatives. They’re the only one’s available. But they’re going to trash talk each other big time while doing it.
One would think articles would be blowing up on what AI would come up with as the best form of government being that it’s our main problem. Unfortunately it will never happen. It won’t happen because AI would determine what the US is doing right now goes against the grain entirely.
I have seen only one study on it and the main tenet was a robust middle class and low taxes. The poor can’t lift up the poor and the rich kick everyone down further which is what we have currently.
Interesting article on ZeroHedge,
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2023-11-14/what-vladimir-putin-would-not-go-so-far-say
Oh well. No one expects the fighting to continue when government largesse is at stake. But it was a good show while it lasted.
It looks like it took a war with Israel for the neocons to lose interest in Ukraine. After all, Israel is the #1 interest of the neocons. (They are decidedly Israel firsters).
For those interested in the chain of events on how the US scuttled peace negotiations early on in the Ukraine war, you can read the following. This has long been known but this provides a detailed account.
https://sonar21.com/how-the-chance-was-lost-for-a-peace-settlement-of-the-ukraine-war/
I am very pleased to see that the house bill passed, when I awoke this morning. Keeping things in perspective, we accomplished the following yesterday. More than the GOP has in quite sometime (decades maybe?) I would suggest.
1. Avert shutdown (massive potential ramifications otherwise).
2. He did so in a manner (2-step) that doesn’t allow for adding a bunch of crap (CR), so just status quo, as is, but only until right after the New Year.
3. Major funding (Ex. Military, Veterans, Energy) are funded until Mid-Jan.
4. All else funded, as is, until Feb 2.
5. This calculated, and strategized approach, was to set up 2 shut down possibilities, very early next year.
6. The Best News is the approach worked, and with the DEM’s left with no choice, but to pass this bill (they foolishly over voted, making them now ONLY responsible to pass the Jan & Feb Bills), that they definitely didn’t want, as it places them squarely in the middle of the pile of coals. Will they light their own match? We shall see soon enough, but my guess is they again will have no choice (brilliant strategy Mike)!!
7. They didn’t add money for Ukraine, because voters don’t want it, and they didn’t for Israel either, but after that gathering in DC that won’t be a problem getting passed, and they knew it!
8. So now the DEM’s are squarely on the Hot Seat in mid-Jan. And early-Feb. and now totally on the hook on both dates for passage, and the DEM’s are alone on this one and 100% accountable!!!
Excellent work New Speaker!!! Don’t worry, because by around March or so, ALL the Voters will admire You Mike, and just the (Crazy) DEM’s will despise You! Just the way it is Supposed To Be…
Happy 2024 and beyond!
A Xmas hoot.
UNI-PARTY voted for themselves
yahoooeeee
WE THE PEOPLE – get nothing but bill again
and revenue can’t pay debt or budget = default already
We (currently) have a government that is a juggernaut that crushes everyone who stands in its path yelling “stop!” – But it cannot roll on forever. At some point bankruptcy will occur.
You were right. It shows how pathetic the MAGA wing of the GOP is. Their social media posture has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility. If MAGA would have any respect for facts or logic, they would have initiated a motion to vacate the chair. But all they want is chaos and misery to get their concentration camps going.
What a black pot you are!
Lotsa folks allergic to the truth!
Eventually exponents, compound interest and parabolic hockey sticks will set the agenda.
Mid-Jan. And again in Early-Feb.
The only delusion is that the Federal government won’t average a $5 trillion per year debt for the next decade and Border security still will not be solved.
I smell inflation a go-go.
Seriously??? Do you really think the deficit will be 5 trillion a year for the next 10 years??? When in times of inflation has the deficit stayed steady for a decade.
This year 5 trillion, maybe range 5 to 6 trillion for another 3 years but then the debt will have passed 50 trillion, bond rollovers will be at a higher rate. Ditto new bonds to cover each years deficit. So by the time of the 2029-2033 admin the deficits will be 8 trillion plus with the plus being however high it can get with runaway debt, inflation and bond chaos.
This is assuming that they can keep juggling the plates for another decade without it all crashing.
Inflation is written in the stars. It’s the way all fiat currencies go.
The open caption was the best part of the photo.
(people chattering)
Fire Johnson, I double dog dare them….LMAO.
Johnson needs time to pass separate spending bills for each department with appropriate cuts. He may. McCarthy would not. Let dozens of bills pile up in the Senate until hell freezes over or the Senate decides to reopen government one department at a time.
Exactly!
Ah yes, a GOPer compromises and negotiates. Off with his head!!
the other side is PLAYING FOR KEEPS…
…and the GOPe is happy to forfeit on every issue that isn’t war or the tax code.
WAKE UP.
this “negotiation” you speak of is a ONE-WAY STREET… MIC/beltway lobbies/incumbent reptiles get everything they want, while US voters get chronic inflation + policy that is the complete opposite of what they voted-for.