House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is shaping up to be the Democratic Party’s biggest nightmare, if now the Washington political establishment in general.
The formerly obscure Republican from Louisiana vowed on Sunday to reform the way Congress approaches spending legislation with an eye toward paring down the country’s monstrous national debt after 12 Democrats joined most Republicans in voting for a stand-alone $14.5 billion Israel aid bill that strips an equal amount in funding for the Internal Revenue Service.
“Democrat and Republican leaders over in the Senate say there’s no way the stand-lone measure gets anywhere. The White House has said it would veto it anyway. So, with time of the essence, the urgency here, why waste time on a measure that has almost zero chance of actually aiding the Israeli people?” “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream asked.
“Shannon, it’s really surprising to hear Senator Schumer say that it’s not a serious proposal. It’s actually is what was requested, $14.5 billion,” Johnson began, noting that’s the amount the Biden White House wanted.
“What they don’t like is that in the House, we’re trying to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ resources. We offset that spending. Instead of printing new dollars and/or borrowing it from another nation to send over to fulfill our obligations and help our ally, we want to pay for it. What a concept, and we’re trying to change how Washington works,” he added.
“And so, by taking that money from this giant fund, over $65 billion that’s sitting there to build up the IRS, we weighed those priorities and said, you know what? It’s more important to protect Israel right now than it is to hire more IRS agents,” Johnson continued. “Apparently, Senator Schumer disagrees with that. But I’ll take that debate to the American people all day long.”
Bream countered: “Well, he’s pointing, as others are, to the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan group that scores these things. And they said, actually, if you take that funding from the IRS, it’s going to add billions to the deficit because you cut IRS personnel. They are not then collecting that revenue that they bring in. One of your House colleagues, Democrat Brendan Boyle, put it this way. He says you are prioritizing, quote, deficit-busting tax giveaways for the wealthy over helping Israel.”
Johnson brushed that criticism off.
“Only in Washington can you cut funding, add a pay-for to a new spending measure, and they say it’s terrible for the deficit,” he said.
“Listen, we’re taking care of our priorities, and we will. We know that these other important measures that right there on the table, and we’re working through it hour by hour, day-by-day and we’re going to meet those obligations. But we have to do things in the proper order, and we are committed to changing how Washington works,” he added.
