Mike Johnson Reminds House GOP That Legislating Isn’t That Important Right Now
INSIDE: Birtherism's back ... Trump power grab defeated (for now) ... DOGE advisor launches anti-Musk PAC
Ceding their authority as members of a separate-but-equal branch of government to the executive has emerged as a subtle, frequent theme for Republicans in the 119th Congress. We’ve seen this trend take many different forms, especially among House Republicans who have — at least up until this point — been successfully persuaded to ignore any legislative qualms they might have in order to score victories for President Trump.
At one point in the days leading up to a government shutdown in March, Trump was able to successfully strong arm several House Republicans, who were opposed to a short-term continuing resolution to keep the government open, into supporting the measure by pointing to the Department of Government Efficiency, suggesting it would do their due diligence for them.
At the time, DOGE was at the height of its rampage, freezing federal spending on crucial programs at a impossible-to-follow pace. Trump assured Republican legislators that DOGE’s efforts would return federal spending to pre-COVID levels, so none of the details of the CR they would ultimately pass actually mattered. According to reporting from Politico in March, Trump specifically told holdouts that he would pursue impoundment to continue withholding funds appropriated by Congress.
This collapse of the system of separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution is something that very few Republicans in Congress, save a few senators including Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), have blinked an eye at. Much of DOGE’s work can be seen through the lens of the executive branch running roughshod over Congress’ authority to appropriate federal spending and stand up agencies. House Republicans ceded their authority to the executive branch even further — though in a more formal way — when they rubber-stamped the recent rescissions package the White House sent over.
As he attempts to get his conference to let go of their issues with the Senate version of the massive reconciliation package and get it to Trump’s desk, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is once again reminding his members that their job isn’t really about legislating. Figuring out what is in a bill is the president’s job, not theirs, he contends. Emphasis mine:
“We knew we would come to this moment. We knew the Senate would amend the House product. I encouraged them to amend it as lightly as possible. They went a little further than many of us would have preferred, but we have the product now,” Johnson told reporters, per The Hill. “As the President said, it’s his bill. It’s not a House bill, it’s not a Senate bill, it’s the American people’s bill. And my objective and my responsibility is to get that bill over the line. So we will do everything possible to do that, and I will work with all of our colleagues.”
Capitulation of the Day
Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, has agreed to pay Trump $16 million as part of a settlement agreement with the President. Trump sued CBS’ “60 Minutes” over an interview it conducted with then Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, claiming it was edited to make her responses sound better. The money will be spent on Trump’s future presidential library, as part of the agreement.
Per NBC News:
Paramount also said it agreed that in the future “60 Minutes” will release transcripts of interviews with eligible U.S. presidential candidates after the interviews have aired, “subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns.”
“The settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret,” the company said.
The proposed settlement comes as Paramount is attempt to complete a multi-billion dollar merger with Skydance Media that must be approved by the Trump administration. Paramount has maintained the issues are separate.
At least one senator has called for the deal to be investigated as bribery.
All the Goodies
TPM’s Layla A. Jones: Obscure But Painful Reconciliation Package Cuts You May Have Missed
Texas Turns Back the Clock On Medical Care
Infuriating reporting from ProPublica finds that, amid the fear and uncertainty that comes with Texas’ abortion bans, doctors are hesitating before providing D&C procedures to women who have miscarried. The procedure is used to prevent hemorrhage but, because it also can be used to carry out an abortion, doctors balk.
ProPublica’s data analysis found:
After the state put a draconian ban in place in 2022, the number of women who needed blood transfusions during emergency room visits for first trimester miscarriages increased by a whopping 54%.
The number of first-trimester emergency room visits increased by 25%, suggesting that women were arriving at or possibly returning to hospitals in a state of extremity that doctors in other states easily help patients avoid.
The Man for the Moment
TPM’s Hunter Walker: The New President of the National Sheriffs’ Association Participated in the Jan. 6 Protests
Good Take on a Bad Take
Trump yesterday threatened to deport, or arrest, or do something sinister to Zohran Mamdani, who, Trump contends, “a lot of people are saying” is here illegally (he is not).
Mother Jones’ Tim Murphy: It Never Stopped Being Birtherism
Regarding Denaturalization
TPM’s Josh Kovensky: DOJ Opens Door To Stripping Citizenship Over Politics
Jan. 6 Rioter Gets DOJ Job
A former FBI agent who encouraged Capitol rioters to attack police officers is now serving as an advisor to DOJ official (and former advocate for Jan. 6 insurrectionists) Ed Martin. Prosecutors said the man in question, Jared Wise, told law enforcement officers guarding the Captiol that they were comparable to the Gestapo and yelled “Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em!” as the riot intensified. He was charged in connection with the attack in 2023, and his case was dismissed when Trump returned to office.
Martin, who Trump tried and failed to make head of the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office, is now serving in a number of roles in the DOJ, including heading up a new “weaponization” working group to investigate supposed prosecutorial overreach that targeted Trump and his supporters.
The Little-Known Federal Independent Agency that Could
On Tuesday, a small independent federal agency that resisted the Trump administration’s attempts to take it over won a key victory in court, brushing back a sweeping assertion of executive authority, that, had it prevailed, would be yet another example of the White House snatching power from Congress.
The background:
Back in March, TPM’s Josh Kovensky noted that the U.S. African Development Foundation had successfully withstood Trump administration power grabs while many others had fallen: the U.S. African Development Foundation fended off DOGE, and Pete Marocco, a USAID appointee who the administration sought to install as the Foundation’s new acting board chair. (Marocco was also identified by open-source resources as having participated in January 6.)
To put Marocco in place, the administration asserted a sweeping new interpretation of executive power, claiming that, though the agency’s board is Senate confirmed, Trump could install a new board member himself, part of his “inherent authority under Article II” of the Constitution.
“Here what you have is a President who’s saying, well, the position’s vacant, so I’m allowed to temporarily appoint someone to that position without advice and consent of the Senate, but that’s not how this works,” law professor Nicholas Bednar told Josh at the time. “It would effectively just be a runaround on Congress’s ability to check who the President wants in office.”
On Tuesday, the USADF prevailed in court, with U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, blocking the takeover after finding that “the Constitution likely does not vest the President with the authority to appoint Marocco as an acting Board member at USADF.”
“While defendants argue that the President has inherent Article II power to appoint acting principal officers, there is little hope for defendants that this argument will win the day,” Leon concluded later.
DOGE Guy vs. DOGE Guy
An ally of President Donald Trump and former Department of Government Efficiency adviser James Fishback on Tuesday is launching a super PAC called FSD PAC designed to blunt Elon Musk’s political ambitions.
FSD PAC, a play on Tesla’s “full self-driving,” stands for Full Support for Donald.
Its strategy is to be a bulwark against Musk’s threats — real or perceived, and comes as multiple Republicans shrug off the latest social media spat as little to worry about in a world where Trump so thoroughly commands the loyalty of the GOP base.
"It’s not a House bill, it’s not a Senate bill, it’s the American people’s bill."
Yes, and the people hate it, Mr. Speaker.
"The money will be spent on Trump’s future presidential library, as part of the agreement."
There it is again, the fecking "tRump liberry" scam...everybody but everybody just KNOWS that all these legal settlements that include "donations" to this mythical library are just bankrolling non-taxable slush funds for the benefit of tRump and his shite grifting family. But, we all play along, nothing to see here, it's just tRump being tRump, whatevs.