House okays aid bill for Israel

Speaker Johnson open to aid for Ukraine - but there's a catch

Nov 03, 2023

Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for November 3, 2023:

Tuberville refuses to budge on military promotions.
Senators spar over Supreme Court ethics probe.
“Shut up, Colonel Sanders.”

ISRAEL AID. House Speaker Mike Johnson chalked up his first major legislative victory on Thursday, as the House voted 226-196 to approve a $14.3 billion aid package for Israel. Most Democrats voted against it, angered by a corresponding $14.3 billion cut in tax enforcement money at the Internal Revenue Service. The bill is going nowhere fast in the Senate.

SPEAKER. "This is necessary and critical assistance as Israel fights for its right to exist," Speaker Johnson said after the vote, as he called on Democrats and President Biden to accept the plan. "I urge them to act swiftly and pass this bill as the House did."
VOTE. A dozen Democrats broke ranks to vote for the bill: Craig MN, Davis NC, Frankel FL, Golden ME, Gottheimer NJ, Landsman OH, Moskowitz FL, Soto FL, Stevens MI, Vargas CA, Wasserman Schultz FL, and Wilson FL. There were two Republicans opposed - Massie KY, and Greene GA.
IRS. Democrats were furious not only about the IRS provisions - but also that Republicans did not include aid for Ukraine as requested by President Biden, as they accused Speaker Johnson of playing political games.
GOTCHA. "He has constructed a political gotcha bill," said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), as Democrats denounced the conditions on the aid to Israel. “It’s a dangerous precedent,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY).
SCHUMER. Don’t look for Senators to just approve the House bill. "The Senate will not take up the House GOP's deeply flawed proposal," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. "Instead we will work on our own bipartisan emergency aid package."
GOP WIN. Still, it was a victory for the new Speaker, and gives the House much better leverage in any upcoming negotiations with the Senate and the White House. It's not clear how soon the Senate will begin work on a Israel-Ukraine-Taiwan-border security measure.

SPENDING. Not everything went right this week for Speaker Johnson when it comes to legislating. House GOP leaders last night gave up on plans to pass a government funding bill for transportation and housing programs when it became apparent that the spending bill was short on votes.

TODAY. Before going home for the weekend today, the House is expected to approve a government funding bill for interior and environmental programs. That would mean the House has okayed 7 of 12 spending bills for 2024.
FREEDOM CAUCUS. Those yearly funding bills were on the agenda Thursday when Freedom Caucus members met with Speaker Johnson. You could tell they were excited to be talking to a new leader. "Yeah, he's a true conservative," said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC).
PROCESS. Many of the Freedom Caucus members still want the House to pass all 12 government funding bills before there is any talk about a temporary spending plan (CR). "What is very, very important to me is restoring the process, regular order," said Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT).
LADDER? At a news conference, the Speaker had reporters wondering what he was talking about when he said GOP lawmakers had discussed a 'laddered CR.' "You would do a CR that extends individual pieces of the appropriations process," Johnson said. The current temporary funding plan runs out in two weeks.
CABLE. A day after doing an event with Fox News and Sean Hannity from inside the Capitol, Speaker Johnson was back on Fox Business for an interview on Thursday afternoon. That's five interviews for Fox in just over a week. A Fox reporter also had the first question for Johnson at his news conference.

UKRAINE. When it comes to money for Ukraine, Speaker Johnson made clear on Thursday that he is open to a deal with Democrats which would combine aid for Ukraine with actions to crack down on illegal immigration over the southern border with Mexico.

BORDER. "We want to pair border security with Ukraine because I think we can get bipartisan agreement on both of those matters," Johnson told reporters. "If we're going to take care of a border in Ukraine, we need to take care of America's border as well. And I think there's bipartisan support for that idea."
DEAL. Republicans have leverage for this kind of idea in both the House and Senate - and frankly, it's not a bad kind of deal for the White House, which has clearly struggled to clamp down on the flow of migrants into the U.S.
SENATE. Earlier this week, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell signaled the same thing - that he wants border security policy changes to be passed along with money for Ukraine. "I think the Democrats will have to accept a really serious U.S.-Mexico border protection bill in order to get our people on board."
DEMS. Would that upset a lot of Democrats? You bet. But do you want a deal or not? Real bipartisan negotiation means I get something - and you do, too. (Most people think of lawmaking as ‘you need to accept what I want.’)

REGULAR ORDER. My first job on Capitol Hill was in 1980. I started reporting in 1986. I continue to witness stuff that I never could have imagined happening in the halls of Congress. You can hire me for cheap to give you an insider view of what’s happening up here. Another option is giving a gift subscription, or you can always just buy me a drink.

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ETHICS. A business meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee got chippy pretty fast yesterday as Democrats served notice they would force a committee vote next week on subpoenas related to questions about free gifts, luxury travel, and freebies for Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court.

BACKERS. Democrats want answers from two billionaires who have showered Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito with gifts and attention. "The highest court in the land cannot have the lowest standard of ethics in the government," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who said they’ve been stonewalled.
GOP. "You better eat breakfast next Thursday," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), as Republicans again denounced any examination of Supreme Court gifts. "This isn't oversight," huffed Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA). "This is partly a pretext to try to conceal the utter failures of Joe Biden," said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).
SCOTUS. Republicans have reacted with outrage at every news story which has uncovered stories of private jets, expensive gifts, luxury travel, sweetheart business deals, and unpaid loans involving Thomas and Alito. "This is part of an orchestrated scheme to influence and control our Supreme Court," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

PENTAGON. Unable to get Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) to drop his blockade against hundreds of non-controversial military promotions, Senators on Thursday had to take several hours of votes to approve a trio of top Pentagon leaders - as there is no end in sight to Tuberville’s delaying tactics.

TOP BRASS. The Senate approved Admiral Lisa Franchetti as the first female Chief of Naval Operations. Gen. David Allvin was okayed as the new Air Force Chief of Staff. And Gen. Christopher Mahoney was officially promoted to Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps.
MARINES. The vote for Mahoney was an emergency, after Gen. Eric Smith - the recently confirmed Marine Corps Commandant - was hospitalized following an apparent heart attack. Normally, Mahoney and others would have been swiftly approved by the Senate - but with Tuberville, these are not normal times.

TUBERVILLE. A day after an extraordinary scene on the Senate floor, where Tuberville was bitterly denounced by fellow Republicans, the Alabama Senator said he would not end his hold on over 300 admirals and generals. "My hold is not affecting readiness," Tuberville said, even as GOP Senators argued the opposite.

GOALPOSTS. Under a lot more public pressure from his own party, Tuberville seemed to be moving the goalposts this week at times. For example, he said he wanted the Senate to address each nomination - but then he blocked consent to act on 61 different promotions on Wednesday night.
PROCEDURE. “Unanimous consent is not regular order," Tuberville told puzzled reporters on Thursday. "Regular order is cloture (a vote to block a filibuster) and then everybody votes."
FILIBUSTER. Let me note just how ridiculous that statement is from Tuberville. Regular order is NOT a filibuster against every senior military promotion. It never has been.
GOP. Republican Senators have been furious with Tuberville for months - but they have refused to speak up until now - and only when it became evident that Democrats were going to push for a procedural change to allow all of the 300-plus nominees to be approved with just one vote.
PARLIAMENTARY NERD NOTE. You can find the resolution from Democrats at this link. It’s not clear how soon the Senate might act on that plan. (FYI - this is not a ‘rules’ change. It would be a change in procedure. That is all.)

NOMINATIONS. Tuberville isn't the only Republican throwing sand in the gears of the Senate's nominations process. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) is currently blocking any nomination made by President Biden to the Justice Department - refusing to allow any federal prosecutors or other officials to be confirmed by the Senate.

VANCE. What's this about? Vance is mad that the feds are investigating and prosecuting former President Donald Trump, as the Ohio Republican blames it on President Biden. "So long as he goes after his political opponents, I will hold nominations to the Department of Justice," Vance said on the Senate floor.
VOTES. I've had a number of people ask me, 'Why doesn't the Senate just vote on all of these nominations?' It's because of the extraordinary amount of time involved - and the bad precedent that it sets.
PROCEDURAL NERD NOTE. Each nominee needs at least two roll call votes plus two hours of debate. And once you go through the extensive list of nominations on hold - you can see why it would take months of work.

REAL LAWMAKERS. There are some days when I look through the social media accounts of members of Congress and wonder - what in the hell are you doing? We had a couple of those moments on Thursday in our latest episode of 'Real GOP Lawmakers of Congress.'

SANTOS. Angered by the effort to expel him, Rep. George Santos (R-NY) lashed out at Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) on Twitter. "Your son is a felon. He has been in and out of the prison system for years," Santos wrote. "He is a drug dealer, poisoning people on the streets with meth."
WOMACK. Santos was mad at Womack for taking a shot at him. "Last night, the House saw its shadow," Womack wrote, referring to the failed expulsion vote against Santos. "Unfortunately, this means there will be two more weeks of Santos."
MRS. GREENE OF GEORGIA. Not to be outdone was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) who was still livid that 23 Republicans had voted against her resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
REP MTG. "You voted to kick me out of the freedom caucus, but keep CNN wannabe Ken Buck and vaping groping Lauren Boebert and you voted with the Democrats to protect Terrorist Tlaib."
CHIPPED BEEF. Roy responded by tweaking Greene over her 'Jewish space lasers' comment. "Oh shut up Colonel Sanders, you're not even from Texas," Greene replied.
PEANUT GALLERY. No, I did not expect Greene to hit Boebert with ‘vaping groping.’ (I just can’t make this stuff up, folks.)

NATIONAL DEBT. Republicans in Congress hardly talk anymore about balancing the budget, even as they decry large deficits and huge amounts of red ink for Uncle Sam. But on the campaign trail for Republicans - it's a different story. During a rally yesterday in Texas, former President Donald Trump promised to quickly pay off the national debt if elected again.

PROMISES. "The $35 trillion in debt, we're going to pay it off - we're going to get it done fast, too," Trump said.
REALITY. Not surprisingly, Trump did not mention that during his four years in office, he added nearly $8 trillion to the national debt, and never came close to balancing the budget - let alone creating a surplus.

RAP SHEET. A Tennessee man has been arrested on Jan. 6 charges. Michael Roberts was part of a group of rioters who tried to push police aside at the Lower West Terrace Tunnel entrance to the Capitol. "Man, this isn’t just a fight for Donald Trump. This is a fight of good versus evil, right versus wrong," Roberts said that day.

SHOW ME. A Missouri man has pleaded guilty to three felony charges from Jan. 6. Christopher Roe showed up on Capitol Hill with a pitchfork, zip ties, and duct tape. He clashed with police officers inside and outside of the Capitol.
TODAY. A former Trump State Department official will be sentenced today for his actions on Jan. 6. The feds want 10 years in prison for 'Freddie' Klein, who was found guilty of attacking police officers outside the Capitol. His lawyers complained at one point that Jan. 6 video footage of Klein made him look guilty.

MUSE OF HISTORY. November 3, 1794. On this date, the second session of the Third Congress convened in Philadelphia. The House achieved a quorum the next day - but it would take two weeks for a quorum to finally appear in the Senate, as all organizational work was on hold until Aaron Burr arrived on November 18. Only one state had both Senators on hand on the first day - John Langdon and Samuel Livermore of New Hampshire.

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:

The House meets at 9 am.

The Senate is back on Monday.

Check President Biden’s schedule.

Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.

Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com

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