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KAHNTENTIONS

KAHNTENTIONS is a blog post written by Gilbert N. Kahn, Professor of Political Science at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. Beginning in 2011 KAHNTENTIONS was hosted by the New Jersey Jewish News which recently ceased written publication. KAHNTENTIONS presents an open and intellectually honest analysis of issues facing the United States, Israel, as well as Jews world-wide.

BY GILBERT N. KAHN

"These are the times that try men's souls."

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As the Speaker Speaks….


It is beginning to look like the new House Speaker, Mike Johnson, is continuing the spate of Republican leaders who have much more interest in making noise and posturing, than they are in governing. As a result, Washington appears to be in a genuine stalemate as the Government prepares to run out of money by the end of this week.


Rather than demonstrating that he understands the consequences of a government shutdown on November 17, Johnson has chosen to use this critical moment to become creative in budgeting. He shows little interest in moving the lower chamber to proceed according to “regular orders’’ than did Speaker Kevin McCarthy or the other Members of the combative crowd of House Republicans who engineered McCarthy’s removal. If Johnson were engaged in serious debates with the White House, it might be a substantive moment for policy-making. Johnson, however, is only posturing to his own crowd—and the man in Mar-a-Lago--while the country awaits a more sober moment.


Congress must complete action on the FY 2024 budget or at least enact a reasonable continuing resolution to keep the government in business by the end of the week. It also must act on President Biden’s request for a supplemental aid budget for the war in Ukraine, aid to support Israel’s war in Gaza, Taiwan security, and immigration management. While Senate Republicans are largely prepared to fund the President’s requests with perhaps some modifications, Speaker Johnson has chosen this rather critical moment to throw all types of new, creative funding ideas into the mix.


It is understandable that Johnson would like to exhibit to his Republican colleagues, to the nation, and to his party’s hovering leader Donald Trump, that he can be a tough, innovative negotiator. Given the immediacies of President Biden’s request, it might have been a much more impressive demonstration of leadership if he had opted to exhibit statesmanlike conduct and not mere partisanship.


On a political level, Johnson wants to demonstrate to Trump, that unlike Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Speaker prefers to be as confrontational and non-compliant as possible towards President Biden. Given the off-year election results last week, in which there were a number of Democratic victories, one might have thought that Johnson would recognize the challenge that Republicans are facing to maintain control of the House in the 2024 election.


Specially, given the need for the generally unknown new Speaker’s lack of preparation to be the GOP’s major House fund-raiser for 2024, Johnson might have considered whether his strategy ought to have been to get these old legislative battles behind him quickly. He thus might have been able to take his agenda to the nation as he campaigns and fundraises for House Republicans. Persisting in supporting the impeachment of President Biden, for example, represents another pointless venture to appeal to the MAGA base—not to unite the country.


Admittedly, Johnson is operating under the same narrow window; a very slim majority and the operational rule that one House Member can move to have the Speaker “vacate” his position and it would immediately be called forward. It ought to be assumed, however, that Republicans would not proceed again with such an initiative given that it took the 21 days to fill the post after McCarthy was removed.


This entire scenario is a further example of how out of synch the Republican Party is with the need to translate elections into governance. Electoral victories are supposed to enable officials to govern and not to obstruct. Recent events are a likely harbinger of what might yet face the nation. It is a frightening signal that all Americans ought to consider as they ponder the presidential electoral shenanigans which already have begun. If former President Donald Trump should be re-elected next November, he has reportedly already made it clear that his next Administration will begin with a program of revenge against his opponents. His previous term in office demonstrated how recklessly he intends to manage the nation’s affairs internationally as well as domestically. It is probable that the political gamesmanship in which Speaker Johnson is now engaged will appear to be child’s play compared to the havoc that a second Donald Trump term will reap on the nation.

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