The House Gets it Right, at Last.

Yesterday under the leadership of House Speaker Michael Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the House of Representatives passed the $95 billion foreign aid supplemental that will send needed military supplies to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. (See: Shulmaven: Israel, Iran and the Nazi Gaza War Protesters ) And for good measure the House threw in a forced sale/ban on Tick Tock. 

The leadership succeeded in overcoming challenges from the anti-Israel Hamas Caucus in the Democratic Party and the Putinista Wrecker Caucus apparently being led by Moscow Marjorie Taylor Green in the Republican Party. At last, the center finally held. The measure now moves on to the Senate where it will hopefully pass on Tuesday, much to the relief of the struggling Ukrainian defenders. With shouts of "Churchill not Chamberlain" it seems that the House is beginning to recognize that we are in a prewar situation and has to act accordingly.

Further, in another victory for the center, Congress passed a two year reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) which enable warrantless surveillance outside of the United States even if it involves contact with U.S. citizens. This law has served us well for over four decades.

Speaker Michael Johnson put his job on the line with his actions and let us hope that he understands that standing up to the bullies in his own party, will strengthen him, rather than bring him down.

Sleepwalking on the Road to Perdition

 With Trump's 12 point victory over Nikki Haley last night in New Hampshire, it seems that we are getting the 2024 election that most Americans did not want. You can't argue that America is a forward looking country with two octogenarians vying for the presidency. Trump is looking backward to the 1950's where he grew up and to the 1930's antecedents to his America First ideas, while Biden is still stuck in 1970's industrial policy time warp and the extreme cultural liberalism of the1972 McGovern campaign which has been adopted by most of the Democratic Party. 

Meantime the world has become more dangerous by the day with the new axis of evil consisting of China, Russia and Iran threatening U.S. interests around the world. While both candidates will likely focus on domestic issues, it is important to note policy mistakes in the domestic area can be reversed with subsequent elections, foreign policy mistakes are not so easily reversible. This is especially true with the wrecker caucus Republicans holding up much needed aid to Ukraine and Israel. (See: Shulmaven: Crunch Time for Ukraine, Israel and the Border ) If Biden were to show some leadership he should make a deal on the Border with the Republicans and get that issue behind him. If not, my guess is that the Republicans will sweep in November.

Further Biden has to get out of his sleepwalking mode and, if he is capable, he has to run an all-out campaign a la 1948 Harry Truman against the do nothing Congress. However, that "if" is a BFD, as Biden would say. To continue the Truman analogy, Biden should give an all-out speech calling for a big increase in the defense budget to deal with the axis of evil. Otherwise I fear that we would be sleepwalking on the road to perdition.

Crunch Time for Ukraine, Israel and the Border

 As I write this an ad hoc Senate committee is attempting to forge a broad border security bill that would attract 60 votes in the Senate thereby paving the way for passing much needed aid to Ukraine and Israel. It is frightening that the national security interests of the United States is being compromised by the Republican wrecker caucus. 

Perhaps more dangerous is the fact that the Republican Party is now home to a Putinista caucus as well that likely will vote against Ukraine aid no matter what the Senate Democrats and Biden offer up on immigration. Indeed the best that can happen to the Democrats is to make a deal on immigration, because if they don't put this issue behind them they could very well be a gonner in the next election.

Not to be out done the Hamas caucus within the Democratic Party will likely vote against any aid to Israel. Thus if any bill comes out of the Senate it will likely be a coalition of the centrists of both parties and I would like to point out that once again my favorite Senator, Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) is leading the charge to forge a workable bill. 

However the question remains whether or not the House, which is not in session, would actually pass any Senate compromise. In that body the Putinista caucus would rather have an issue than passing substantive legislation. 

Last week marked the 82nd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. It would be tragic if Congress' failure to act on Ukraine aid will be remembered as a week of infamy.

House Crushes MAGA Wrecker Caucus

The House of Representatives by an overwhelming 335-91 margin voted to keep our government open for another 45 days, thereby signaling a major defeat for the wrecker caucus within the House. Among the wreckers are Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert and Margorie Taylor Greene. All of whom were being cheered on from the peanut gallery by Liddle Donnie Trump. It was good to see Democrats and Republicans working together for the common good and it remains to be seen whether Kevin McCarthy will remain speaker. The main drawback in the deal is the absence of funding for Ukraine. Hopefully that will be remedied next week.

I previously wrote about the wreckers in three prior blog posts. (See: https://shulmaven.blogspot.com/2013/09/on-strike-shut-it-down.html, https://shulmaven.blogspot.com/2013/10/after-action-report-on-government-shut.html, and https://shulmaven.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-republican-wrecker-caucus-strikes.html)

Although the characters are different from 10 years ago, the goal remain the same and that is to stop the normal functioning of government to serve their own petty ends. Unfortunately the House Republicans continue to circle the drain, meaning this will not be the last time we have to put with the MAGA wreckers.

The Republican Wrecker Caucus Strikes Again

The so called Republican "Freedom Caucus" in the House of Representatives is at it again .After failing miserably in their attempt to shut down the government in 2013 (see prior posts:http://shulmaven.blogspot.com/2013/09/on-strike-shut-it-down.html and http://shulmaven.blogspot.com/2013/10/after-action-report-on-government-shut.html) they have succeeded in forcing the retirement of House Speaker John Boehner and prevented House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy from succeeding him.  The wrecker caucus as I call them has no interest in governing, in fact by their actions they don't really understand how the Constitution works. Simply put without 60 votes in the Senate and a 2/3 majority in both Houses the Senate Democrats and President Obama hold most of the high cards.

As I previously wrote they are very much like the nihilistic student protesters of the late 1960s. They care more about making a point than actually governing. It feels good for them, but it is the country that will suffer. Just like some of their 1960s counterparts they are oh so dour and oh so mean spirited. Where is the optimism of a Ronald Reagan? The wreckers don't understand that the way to success is with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.  

Moreover after watching the wreckers in action why would American voters want to give control of the government to the Republican Party. If it weren't so tragic, one can argue that the wreckers are part of some diabolically Clintonian scheme to elect Hillary president.

Don't you think its time for the grownups, if there are any left, in the Republican Party to take charge?

After Action Report on the Government Shut Down

The wrecker caucus within the Republican Party failed in their attempt to perform a late-term abortion on Obama Care. After 16 days of folly the wreckers succeeded in damaging the Republican brand name and escalated the civil war inside the Republican Party that will certainly rage until at least the 2016 convention. It won't be pretty.

Strange as it may seem the wreckers were rescued by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who enshrined the 2011 sequester in the upcoming budget negotiations. The congressional negotiators will be fighting it out on Republican terrain which makes it likely the Republicans will eke out a small victory with respect to spending and taxes. Furthermore government as a whole has taken a big hit, and for better or worse, it will be harder to rally the country for the domestic and international tasks ahead.

Meantime the Obama Care roll out has been disaster. The entry website is not working; it is not a technical glitch, but rather a fundamental software failure. Simply put the back end of the software may not be working which means inaccurate information is being sent to the health insurance companies. This is more than a software failure, it is a fundamental management failure on the part of the Obama Administration. Let's face it President Obama is not a manager and it looks very obvious there was very little hands on control over the past three years on the implementation of his signature program. At the very least HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should be fired.

Over the longer run, despite the explosive rally in the stock market, the U.S. will pay a big price in the global financial markets for threatening to default on our debt. It means the dollar's status as a reserve currency has been devalued. It means higher interest rates, a weaker dollar and a loss of geopolitical credibility. For the wreckers to even threaten default  was criminal negligence.

Taking a step back our country has been through this before. 75 years ago this Veterans Day Kate Smith introduced Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" to a national radio audience. True the country was divided about the coming European War, but she offered hope. We still live in a great country and I think you will enjoy the following clip, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zF7a0wB-Lg