House Republicans were on the verge of dealing a rebuke to the Biden administration and taking the lead in the national security race this week but instead suffered embarrassing back-to-back defeats and raised the question of where House Speaker Mike Johnson can go from here.
After failing to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by one vote and being resoundingly shut down on a stand-alone aid bill for Israel’s war with Hamas, Mr. Johnson blamed the stunning losses on the messy reality of democracy rather than on his tactics.
“I don’t think that this is a reflection on the leader,” Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, told reporters Wednesday at the Capitol. “It’s a reflection on the body itself.”
The defeat of the Israel aid on Tuesday was the second time Mr. Johnson tried to pass such a bill through the Republican-run House. He successfully passed an aid bill for the Jewish state in October, but the Democratic-run Senate refused to take it up. The second bill was intended to up the ante with the Senate, which stumbled on its border and national security package.
The repeated missteps and setbacks in high-level policy fights, such as failing to counter Senate Democrats’ broader foreign aid package with the Israel aid bill, have led some House Republicans to point the finger at their new and inexperienced leader.
“I hate to say this, but, you know, Republicans don’t need to look anywhere else to blame other than leadership for how we ended up in this current position,” said Rep. Max Miller, Ohio Republican. “And that’s not because I want to be rude or attack leadership.”
He continued, “I’m just calling balls and strikes, and they misplayed their hand, and we are where we are because of the decisions that they made for the entire conference.”
With election-year politics further complicating Congress’ agenda, how House Republicans will proceed with spending bills, border security, or national security aid to Israel and Ukraine is an open question.
Mr. Johnson has promised another vote to impeach Mr. Mayorkas, delivering an indelible stain to the administration by making him the first sitting Cabinet secretary to suffer that indignity.
Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana said his fellow House Republicans must convey a “bomb-proof” strategy for impeaching Mr. Mayorkas and counter the Senate’s failed foreign aid and border package.
Most important, he said, Mr. Johnson has to convey confidence that the strategy for those three critical items will work.
“I have confidence in him. I think he’s very smart,” Mr. Graves said.
Mr. Johsnson, who won the speakership on Oct. 25, has been hamstrung trying to pass legislation because of near-constant infighting and rebellion among his Republican conference.
While some lawmakers put the House’s dysfunction squarely on Mr. Johnson’s shoulders, others see it as a problem from the rank and file.
Rep. Ryan Zinke, Montana Republican, said the speaker can’t succeed unless members support him. Factions of the House Republicans routinely rebel against Mr. Johnson to score political points.
The more conservatives peel off from the speaker’s plan of action, the more diluted the House Republicans’ paper-thin majority becomes.
“It’s kind of like whiskey. The best, purest whiskey is 218 Republican votes,” Mr. Zinke said. “The moment we don’t have it, you start diluting it, and then pretty soon you’re drinking iced tea.”
Indeed, the intraparty conflict existed before Mr. Johnson ascended to the speakership. He was voted in because Republican rebels teamed up with House Democrats to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Oct. 3.
Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, called the failure on Tuesday an exercise in futility.
“We just should have never got rid of Kevin McCarthy,” Mr. Massie said. “What a terrible mistake.”
Rep. Bob Good of Virginia, the chair of the rebellious House Freedom Caucus and one of the eight Republicans who ousted Mr. McCarthy, said the new speaker needs to show more willingness to fight for conservative priorities, such as linking border security to the ongoing fights over government spending.
He said Mr. Johnson’s decision to put a second Israel aid bill without offset spending cuts was a massive failure of leadership because it forced some conservatives, like himself, to take a hard vote on whether to support Israel or add to the more than $34 trillion national debt.
“We shouldn’t have been forced to make that choice, and then it failed anyway,” Mr. Good said. “And it did nothing to impact the supplemental’s outcome in the Senate, which was his stated strategic objective. So that was a massive failure of leadership.”
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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