House Republicans have gotten themselves into a mess and once again embarrassed and humiliated themselves in the process.
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In order to appease their overlords Elon Musk and Donald Trump, House Republicans on Thursday slimmed down a funding bill that would have prevented a government shutdown. The most important items stripped from the original continuing resolution (CR), which had been negotiated and agreed upon with Democratic leaders, were the dignity of GOP lawmakers, and any pretense that they view themselves as a coequal branch of government or that their words can be trusted.
Oh, and a couple hundred million dollars for childhood cancer research.
Here is the play-by-play of the GOP’s humiliation: Republicans and Democrats had reached a deal on a funding bill that would keep the government open through March. As is the case when people negotiate, both sides got some stuff they wanted and some stuff they didn’t.
But then the man who will lead the country next year didn’t like that agreement and put pressure on Republicans to renege on the deal or risk losing their jobs.
And then Trump got involved as well.
Or, to sum it up in one sentence, the guy beholden to Musk told the guys beholden to him to go back on their word.
What’s in it for each of them (apart from killing that pediatric cancer provision)?
That’s anybody’s guess… but we’ll give it a shot.
Musk likes to buy stuff, spread misinformation, and feel like one of the popular kids. He got to do all of that. Oh, and perhaps he also wanted to kill a provision in the original bill (found on page 167) that restricted US investment in China.
As for Trump, in addition to wanting to please Musk, he wants to restore fiscal discipline to Washington.
Just kidding, of course (well, not about the first part, that is true).
As for the fiscal discipline thing, it’s the opposite.
What Trump really hopes to get out of this clown show, apart from Musk’s approval, is a suspension of the debt ceiling because that would allow him to add a few more trillion dollars to the debt while continuing to dupe his voters into believing that he is a fiscal conservative who is on their side.
And House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) probably just likes to be humiliated.
Hilariously, after failing to pass the new version of the continuing resolution on Thursday, Republicans are now trying to blame this mess on Democrats… even though they have a majority in the House and are the ones who blew up an agreement that all congressional leaders had reached.
How is all of this ultimately going to play out? Republicans clearly have no idea, but Musk will surely tell them eventually.
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
