After voters handed Republicans a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, GOP leaders had high hopes. The party and its members appeared convinced as this Congress got underway that Republicans wouldn’t just rack up victories, they’d also impress the public with their vision and legislative prowess.
So much for that idea.
The GOP-led House has generated one fiasco after another. Resignations in the chamber have reached a generational high. Legislative progress has slowed to a pace unseen in nearly a century. Lawmakers have struggled mightily to complete basic tasks. In the spring, House Speaker Mike Johnson organized a retreat focused on unifying his conference, and most of his members didn’t show up.
Soon after, one of the party’s most radical members launched an effort to oust the incumbent House speaker, which comes six months after the previous ouster of the last House speaker. It was around this time when a Punchbowl News report concluded, “This is the most chaotic, inefficient and ineffective majority we’ve seen in decades covering Congress.”
Can things get worse. Of course they can. NBC News reported:
Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday yanked a government funding bill off the House floor hours before an expected vote after a growing number of disgruntled Republicans vowed to tank the measure.
The beleaguered House speaker’s original plan was to pass appropriations bills months ago that would fund the government through the next fiscal year. That plan collapsed in July when Johnson’s own members balked.
As members returned to Capitol Hill from their August break, the GOP leader embraced a new plan: The House would, at Donald Trump’s direction, push a temporary spending bill that included cuts and a far-right election scheme called the Save Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote.
If Democrats opposed the scheme, Johnson said, then Republicans would allow the government to shut down at the end of the month.
The House speaker’s plan faced swift and bipartisan opposition, but he said he was pushing forward anyway. Johnson was backed by his party’s former president, who published thoughtful messages online, including one that said, in reference to federal operations, “CLOSE IT DOWN!!!”
Johnson said he’d bring his plan to the House floor on Wednesday. Then he came to terms with the fact that too many of his own members refused to support his bill — at which point the speaker pulled his bill and scrapped his plans.
No one seems to have any idea what GOP leaders will do next. If the Louisiana Republican continues to insist on pushing a far-right spending bill, filled with radical and unnecessary anti-election measures, he’ll certainly make Trump happy, but Johnson won’t have a bill that can pass either chamber. If the House speaker backs down and agrees to a clean, bipartisan bill, he’ll prevent a shutdown, but he’ll be dependent on Democrats to save his skin — again — and further weaken his standing within the GOP conference he ostensibly leads. Complicating matters, Johnson’s latest embarrassment comes on the heels of several months’ worth of similar setbacks. “Extreme MAGA Republicans have been in the majority for over 18 months,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement in July. “Can anyone name a single thing extreme MAGA Republicans in the House have done in order to make life better for the American people? A single thing that they have done? You can’t. … They are incapable of governing.” Two months later, the New York Democrat’s assessment continues to ring true.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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