Sean CastenHouse procedure is normally a snoozefest that only insiders care about. But this one is just such a perfect distillation of the incompetence in the GOP, failure of Trump as a leader and weakness of Mike Johnson. Let's roll the video tape:
1. First, DHS hasn't been funded because of the illegal, immoral, murderous behavior by ICE. No members of conscience were willing to fund that agency, especially since they already had 3x their usual budget through the OBBB.
2. "Members of Conscience" = Democrats. Republicans of course have the majority in the House and Senate but passing this bill requires a 60 vote supermajority in the Senate. So they passed an immoral spending bill in the House and stalled in the Senate. Predictably.
3. Dems, led by Rosa DeLauro countered with bill to fund all of DHS except ICE (Coast Guard, FEMA, TSA). Note this would have left ICE with 3x normal funding because of the OBBB. Rs could have taken that as a win. They blocked it.
4. TSA lines got longer, Trump sent ICE goons into airports which predictably became politically toxic so he finally said he'd use $10B slush fund from OBBB to fund TSA. He had that power all along. But because he's an ass, he didn't use it. https://apnews.com/live/tsa-government-shutdown-ice-trump-03-26-2026
5. Congress could have fixed this too. But Congressional republicans have no animating north star other than falling in line behind Trump. No matter how irrational, inconsistent, angry or spiteful Trump is, they don't dare stand up to him. HOWEVER...
6. Once the Mad King said he'd fund TSA, they could finally get through this without risking a flying ketchup bottle next time they went to his house. So, they finally let - functionally, the Rosa Delauro bill - pass the Senate late last night. https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/senate-approves-funding-for-most-of-dhs-moving-to-end-airport-crisis-d8830efc
7. House should have come in today, passed that bill and gone home. But we can't do that because the wingnuttiest members of the Republican caucus (a) love fascist ICE thugs and (b) hate democracy so refused to support. https://x.com/Olivia_Beavers/status/2037541068258848894?s=20
Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) on X
🚨 House Freedom Caucus members gather off the House floor and HFC Chair Andy Harris says: “The only thing we're going to support is adding that funding into the bill, adding voter ID, sending it back to the Senate, making them come back in and do their work. The bottom line is,
8. In theory, this doesn't matter. Johnson is the Speaker of the House. He could pass the bill on the floor with all Dems and most Rs. But that would make his wingnuts angry. And Mike Johnson not only owes his job to the wingnuts but...
9. He got his job SPECIFICALLY because the wingnuts voted to remove Kevin McCarthy specifically for allowing a funding bill to pass on the floor overwhelmingly with democratic and non-wingnut republican support. https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/13/politics/mccarthy-motion-to-vacate-vote-to-oust-speaker
10. So Johnson - a man with no leadership skills, no political capital and no moral compass - is in a jam. If he brings a bill to the floor that would fully fund TSA, FEMA, Coast Guard with full funding AND leave ICE with 3x historic support, his wingnuts would get mad.
11. And so he is taking the coward's way out. Let's kick the can down the road for 60 days with a continuing resolution to fund everything. Except that this doesn't work, for completely obvious reasons.
12. 'Cause remember: Senators have just proven there aren't votes to fund ICE without reforms. And this CR would still take 60 votes in the Senate. So while he might be able to jam this bill through the House on a party line vote, that just goes back to step 2 above.
13. So even if His Accidency's plan works, it serves only to call Senators back into town for a vote that won't pass, leaving huge parts of government unfunded, just because that's easier for him than standing up to Trump or his wingnuts.
14. It's so maddening. Government workers should be paid. You shouldn't have to wait on lines in airports, or worry about Coast Guard preparedness, or whether FEMA can handle the next disaster. But you do because of the utter lack of character in GOP leadership.
15. Things are fluid and maybe these dynamics change over the next few hours. But it's your regular reminder that there is no overlap in the Venn diagram between a government that works and a Congress under GOP control. /fin
Dan Sugalski@SeanCasten I would love it if, just once, someone asked him point blank "you have the votes to pass this bill. Why didn't you bring it to the floor for a vote?"
I'd love it if that was asked repeatedly, every time it's appropriate, but I'd take just once as a change of pace.
a.k.a. low-profile@SeanCasten "The Senate went dark..." just like Mike Johnson's soul.
Faraiwe@SeanCasten pornhub Moses is trying to tap dance his way out of losing, and it's not working very well.
Flaming Cheeto@SeanCasten Didn't Kathleen Sebelius get in trouble once due moving funds within HHS when the congressionally approved appropriation had the line items amount for different programs?
@PizzaDemon Yes and that would be illegal. In this case, it is a $10B line item in the OBBB that was worded to afford Presidential discretion. So it's not infinite discretion across all accounts - just from that line item.
tlariv@SeanCasten
This post raises an interesting semantic question on the difference between an ass and an asshole.
This post raises an interesting semantic question on the difference between an ass and an asshole.