It’s another day that ends in “-y,” which means House Speaker Mike Johnson is preparing to surrender on yet another federal spending fight that allows President Biden’s border invasion to continue unabated.
On Tuesday, congressional leaders announced they struck a deal on a roughly $1 trillion package to fund the remainder of the federal government for the rest of the 2024 fiscal year. It includes funding for agencies such as the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security. The first package — which contained zero conservative priorities and increased spending — was passed by Congress and signed into law by Biden earlier this month.
Negotiated behind closed doors with the White House and Senate leadership, Johnson said in a Tuesday statement that “House and Senate committees have begun drafting bill text to be prepared for release and consideration by the full House and Senate as soon as possible.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also confirmed this to be the case.
Biden and congressional leaders’ behind-the-scenes scheming to pass the measure by Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown has rightly evoked ire from conservative representatives and senators. On Wednesday morning, Utah Sen. Mike Lee said, “The Firm™️ has yet to show anyone” the proposed package and described attempts to ram the bill through without proper input or debate as “a sham legislative process.”
Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie echoed similar sentiments on Tuesday, writing on X: “We are back in Ryan-Boehner swamp mode where the omnibus is written behind closed doors.”
“Members are told to take it or leave it, and although Republicans control the House, more Democrats vote for it than Republicans because it spends more money than when Pelosi was in charge,” Massie wrote.
What’s in the Bill?
Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s willingness to keep conservative congressional members out of the negotiating process is disgraceful. The bill’s reported contents, however, appear to be just as equally horrific.
According to Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman, Johnson briefed the House GOP Conference on the measure’s key provisions Wednesday morning. Here is what the speaker purportedly claimed are “wins” included in the $1 trillion measure:
Meanwhile, here’s what Democrats are reportedly claiming is in the bill:
As indicated in the latter tweet, the package contains provisions granting “12,000 new Special Immigrant Visas for Afghan nationals who assisted the U.S. in Afghanistan,” according to sources who spoke with Sherman.
It’s Time for Johnson to Man Up
While the measure’s final text has yet to be released, the apparent consensus among Johnson and Democrat leadership is that there will be no significant change to U.S. immigration policy.
The alleged “wins” touted by Johnson pertain to border funding issues — not border policy. Directing more resources towards the border is completely meaningless unless it’s accompanied by changes to existing asylum and border enforcement procedures, such as those included in House Republicans’ Secure the Border Act of 2023 (H.R. 2). Without a change in policy, Biden’s border invasion will continue to metastasize.
Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of Biden’s handling of the invasion, meaning there are zero excuses for Johnson and Republicans to capitulate on the issue. If the speaker is as serious about stopping the border crisis and preventing more tragedies like the death of Laken Riley as he regularly claims, then it’s past time he grows a spine and uses the power of the purse to exact real concessions from Biden and Democrats that secure the border.
Anything less is an act of cowardice that accelerates America’s demise.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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