Johnson: Greene not ‘proving to be’ a serious lawmaker

[kevindavis007]

“I don’t think she is proving to be, no,” Johnson said Tuesday on NewsNation’s “The Hill,” when asked if he believes Greene is a “serious lawmaker.”

“I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about her,” the Speaker continued. “I got to do my job, and we do the right thing, and we let the chips fall where they may. That is my philosophy. That is how we are governing.”

His defiance comes ahead of a scheduled news conference Wednesday morning, in which Greene is expected to address her motion to vacate resolution, which she initially filed in late March. But, for weeks, the Georgia representative has declined to force a vote on the motion, even after Johnson championed more aid for Ukraine, which she opposed.

Despite her effort, Democratic leaders announced Tuesday that they would provide the votes to shield Johnson from a potential conservative coup, prompting Greene to vow to bring her resolution to the floor. Still, she did not say when it would happen.

Read More: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4635127-mike-johnson-newsnation-marjorie-taylor-greene-motion-to-vacate-speaker/

100% true... Moscow Marge is not a serious lawmaker. I think the performative theatre that is going on by Moscow Marge and her ilk needs to stop.

[corbe]

   I'm glad the Freedom Caucus proved their 'seriousness' last year by kicking her out.

[Smokin Joe]

I'm done with the Left's "Moscow Marge" crap. She isn't from Idaho. A little alliteration may make for 'catchy' derision, but it doesn't make it true.

[Wingnut]

She's a nut.

[Smokin Joe]

She's a nut.

That's the refuge of scoundrels, a characterization of those who speak truth to gt them dismissed. Now go ahead and tell me any of those mf'ers on The Hill are doing anything sane.
All the inmates at a nuthouse will point to the one person speaking truth and call them a nut.

[kevindavis007]

I'm done with the Left's "Moscow Marge" crap. She isn't from Idaho. A little alliteration may make for 'catchy' derision, but it doesn't make it true.

The reason she is called Moscow Marge is that she is more loyal to Russia than America AND OUR ALLIES!

[Maj. Bill Martin]

The reason she is called Moscow Marge is that she is more loyal to Russia than America AND OUR ALLIES!

She certainly seems more upset about aid to Ukraine than about any other issue or spending.

[bigheadfred]

She certainly seems more upset about aid to Ukraine than about any other issue or spending.

Horseshit. Back in the first week of December last year Johnson said the border was "the hill to die on". He flat out lied and HE is the one that betrayed this country.

[kevindavis007]

Horseshit. Back in the first week of December last year Johnson said the border was "the hill to die on". He flat out lied and HE is the one that betrayed this country.

Well, maybe there aren't enough votes to pass a border bill that you want! Have you considered that?

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Horseshit. Back in the first week of December last year Johnson said the border was "the hill to die on". He flat out lied and HE is the one that betrayed this country.

Okay, so let's talk about what Johnson did on the border.

Johnson clearly was engaged in hard bargaining/brinksmanship with Senate Democrats, trying to get them to act on the border legislation, HB 2, that the House had passed last July.   The leverage Johnson was trying to use was refusing to pass any other aid unless Senate Democrats also agreed to that border security bill.

The problem turned out to be that the Democrats were willing to let aid to both Ukraine and Israel die rather than past that border bill.   And that shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody, because the vast majority of the Democratic party would go apeshit if the Senate passed that border bill, and Biden signed it.

In other words, the border bill was not going to pass no matter what Republicans did, and there was nothing Republicans could do to change that.  It's unfortunately what happens when you have such a small majority in the House, and the other party controls both the Senate and the Presidency. You simply can't push through major controversial legislation against a hostile Senate and President.  That has never happened.

So that was the reality with which Johnson was faced this spring - that the Republican priority of a border bill was not going to happen.  That became even more certain when President Trump himself came out and said that the Republicans should not agree to any border bill unless it provided 100% security. Obviously, Trump said that because he didn't want to lose the issue for the November election. In any case, Trump's own statement killed whatever chance there was for even a compromise border bill.

So at that point, Johnson's threat not to pass any other aid without a border bill had failed. If you want to call that some unbreakable "promise", fine, but I think it was pretty clearly a negotiating tactic by Johnson.  He tried a poker bluff, it failed, and the Democrats simply had the much better hand. It happens.

So once Johnson accepted the reality that the border bill was not going to pass, the merits of the other legislation had to be considered on their own. And that's exactly what he did.

So there were only two choices:

1) have no border bill, and pass aid to Ukraine and Israel, or

2) have no border bill, and no aid to Ukraine or Israel either.

At that point, the border is irrelevant.  So you either support aid to Ukraine and/or Israel, or you don't. And it's pretty clear that MTG was perfectly happy with Ukraine getting absolutely no military aid whatsoever, regardless of whether  a border bill was being passed or not. 

She should be honest enough to admit that she doesn't want Ukraine getting any military aid regardless, and quit hiding behind the border as an excuse.

[Smokin Joe]

Well, maybe there aren't enough votes to pass a border bill that you want! Have you considered that?

Her point, before being mislabeled as a Putin supporter by even some who claim to be conservative, is that we have sent multiples of the amount it would take to secure OUR border elsewhere, and especially to Ukraine, but there seems to be little interest in stopping the invasion of these United States. That invasion will be our undoing, and without us, the world will fall.

It isn't that BOTH could not be funded, and the two could be linked--as so often is done with all sorts of stuff in spending bills. For this, she gets derided by people who should get it. 

Small wonder the country is such a bleep mess.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Her point, before being mislabeled as a Putin supporter by even some who claim to be conservative, is that we have sent multiples of the amount it would take to secure OUR border elsewhere, and especially to Ukraine, but there seems to be little interest in stopping the invasion of these United States. That invasion will be our undoing, and without us, the world will fall.

Little interest by whom, exactly?  The House passed a great border bill last year, HB 2, that has been sitting in front of the Senate ever since.  Both the Senate leadership and Biden have said it is DOA.  And Trump has since come out and said that Republicans shouldn't support any border bill unless it secures the border 100%.  Border reform was killed by Democrats in control of the Senate and Presidency, and by Trump.

Exactly how is any of that the fault of the House, or of the Speaker?

By the way, it is worthwhile noting that McCarathy negotiated a budget bill last September that included 8% cuts, AND HB 2.   McConnell then said Senate Republicans would stop the alternative bill being pushed by Senate Democrats, and back that House bill.  Sounds great, right?

Except it was then certain alleged conservatives, including MTG herself, who killed that bill because they refused to support any form of continuing resolution.  The predictable result of that was that we ended up with no border bill, no 8% cuts, but the continuing resolution that was inevitable anyway.

It's like a bad joke at this point.

[Smokin Joe]

Little interest by whom, exactly?  The House passed a great border bill last year, HB 2, that has been sitting in front of the Senate ever since.  Both the Senate leadership and Biden have said it is DOA.  And Trump has since come out and said that Republicans shouldn't support any border bill unless it secures the border 100%.  Border reform was killed by Democrats in control of the Senate and Presidency, and by Trump.

Exactly how is any of that the fault of the House, or of the Speaker?

Tie the border bill to funding elsewhere. It is done all the time in Omnibus spending bills. All sorts of stuff gets packed into those.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Tie the border bill to funding elsewhere. It is done all the time in Omnibus spending bills. All sorts of stuff gets packed into those.

Okay, I'll play.  Attached to what?   We tried attaching it to Ukraine/Israel aid, and the Democrat response was "fine, we won't get any aid to Ukraine or Israel."  So that failed.

Or should they have tried attaching it to the continuing resolution as a whole, and just stopped the whole government?  Because that was threatened too, except the problem was that GOP members of the Problem Solvers Caucus said they wouldn't support a shutdown over that issue, so the votes weren't there.  That's what happens when you have a razor-thin majority - it isn't just a small handful of conservatives who have power, but rather every handful of moderates as well.

[kevindavis007]

Her point, before being mislabeled as a Putin supporter by even some who claim to be conservative, is that we have sent multiples of the amount it would take to secure OUR border elsewhere, and especially to Ukraine, but there seems to be little interest in stopping the invasion of these United States. That invasion will be our undoing, and without us, the world will fall.

It isn't that BOTH could not be funded, and the two could be linked--as so often is done with all sorts of stuff in spending bills. For this, she gets derided by people who should get it. 

Small wonder the country is such a bleep mess.

Which party controls the Senate and the White House?

[Bigun]

Which party controls the Senate and the White House?

In truth the Democrats control the entire federal government presently. And that has been so for a very long time.

[Smokin Joe]

Okay, I'll play.  Attached to what?   We tried attaching it to Ukraine/Israel aid, and the Democrat response was "fine, we won't get any aid to Ukraine or Israel."  So that failed.

Or should they have tried attaching it to the continuing resolution as a whole, and just stopped the whole government?  Because that was threatened too, except the problem was that GOP members of the Problem Solvers Caucus said they wouldn't support a shutdown over that issue, so the votes weren't there.  That's what happens when you have a razor-thin majority - it isn't just a small handful of conservatives who have power, but rather every handful of moderates as well.

How about the GOP learn to point the finger and say "YOU shut the Government down!". Attach it to any major spending bill or CR. If Biden won't sign it, point the finger at him! If Schumer won't pass it, point the finger at him!

Quit being bleep. Take up a collection and buy a spine.

The Democrats do what they do because it works and will keep doing it because it works.

[Bigun]

How about the GOP learn to point the finger and say "YOU shut the Government down!". Attach it to any major spending bill or CR. If Biden won't sign it, point the finger at him! If Schumer won't pass it, point the finger at him!

Quit being bleep. Take up a collection and buy a spine.

The Democrats do what they do because it works and will keep doing it because it works.

The parties involved don't make a damned bit of difference!

[kevindavis007]

How about the GOP learn to point the finger and say "YOU shut the Government down!". Attach it to any major spending bill or CR. If Biden won't sign it, point the finger at him! If Schumer won't pass it, point the finger at him!

How about you learn that shutting down the Government doesn't accomplish anything.

[Bigun]

How about you learn that shutting down the Government doesn't accomplish anything.

 

[Smokin Joe]

How about you learn that shutting down the Government doesn't accomplish anything.

It remains to be seen.

Caving in to the other side accomplishes a lot, just not what we might want.

In that case, gridlock is fine by me.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

How about the GOP learn to point the finger and say "YOU shut the Government down!". Attach it to any major spending bill or CR. If Biden won't sign it, point the finger at him! If Schumer won't pass it, point the finger at him!

Quit being bleep. Take up a collection and buy a spine.

The Democrats do what they do because it works and will keep doing it because it works.

First  McCarthy literally tried the exact thing you are suggesting last September.  He tied HB 2 to the omnibus spending bill, and he even got the Senate GOP to agree to support it.  But a couple dozen House conservatives killed it, at which point the Senate GOP decided (correctly) that the House wouldn't be able to pass a bill of its own, so they agreed to let the Dem bill out with a few modifications.  Once the Senate GOP bailed, the House lost any leverage it might have had.  No less a conservative that Chip Roy said this about his fellow House conservatives who killed that bill:

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, vented frustration at his Republican colleagues who are opposing a stopgap proposal to avert a government shutdown cobbled together by the conservative House Freedom Caucus and the more pragmatic Main Street Caucus.

"If a Republican opposes a 30-day, 8% cut to the non-defense, non-veteran federal government with the best border security bill we've ever had attached to it, I honestly don't know what to say to my fellow Republicans other than you're gonna eat a s--- sandwich, and you probably deserve to eat it," Roy told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

"I'm an equal opportunity basher of stupid, and I think this is stupid."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chip-roy-furious-at-fellow-republicans-over-spending-debacle-eat-a-s-sandwich

A politician being right and patriotic on underlying issues is worthless if they are politically stupid.  Completely and utterly worthless.

Second, the idea that House Republicans can win the PR faceoff you are demanding at this point is a fantasy.  Without the Senate GOP backing the shutdown play, the narrative -- and it will be the truthful narrative -- will be that a bipartisan Senate and the President both support a bill to keep the government open, but House Republicans refuse to pass it because they want to add something else to it.

But that's not the real problem.  The real problem is that moderate House Republicans in swing districts already have stated that they will not support an extended shutdown, and will sign a discharge petition to pass a clean CR to keep the government open and not have seniors go without checks, close national parks etc.  Of course, that petition takes 30 days so what you'd end up with is House Republicans shutting down the federal government for 30 days in a losing cause, and everything ending up in the exact same place as if it had passed initially.  A thirty day shutdown that accomplishes nothing would be an election disaster for the GOP.  No way to spin that.

[Right_in_Virginia]

How about you learn that shutting down the Government doesn't accomplish anything.

So what's been accomplished in its place @kevindavis007

[Right_in_Virginia]

Which party controls the Senate and the White House?

The democrats

[Right_in_Virginia]

Horseshit. Back in the first week of December last year Johnson said the border was "the hill to die on". He flat out lied and HE is the one that betrayed this country.