Washington, Dec 18 (IANS): House Republicans are highly displeased over Speaker Mike Johnson's decision to push must-pass legislations into 2024 with short-term extensions ensuring the government doesn’t shut down and key programmes don’t lapse. His two laddered extensions to prevent government shutdown and keep federal funding open last till January 19 and February 2, respectively.
Yet another major legislation that was to be passed in 2023 was the reauthorisation of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and of the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA).
"I'm just super happy to be here with all we’re accomplishing," one GOP (Republican) House member said in sarcasm.
On FISA, Johnson went from saying he wouldn’t include a short-term extension in the National Defence Authorszation Act (NDAA) to doing just that. Defending his position, the GOP member said he "didn’t change his mind on FISA" and that he is "not one who wants to rush this. I don't think we can make a mistake, and I think he's got to do it right. And so we're going to allow the time to do that".
Some GOP members are upset with Johnson for including a short-term extension of the programme in the NDAA and would have preferred he kept the House in session until they figured out a way to get the legislation endorsed by the house.
"It's upsetting to me," Representative Cory Mills said. "You can see the kind of trickery of D.C. where they try to attach FISA to the NDAA. That way, they can put you into that situation where if you vote against it, 'Oh, you hate our military'. Or if you vote for it, 'Oh, you hate individual privacy.’ So these are poison pills."
The House needs "to stay up here and get things done" and "not just take an early recess or a break", Mills had said. The NDAA passed overwhelmingly on Thursday, the last day of the 2023 session and obviously people were upset, media reports said.
"He needs to acclimate," Representative Byron Donalds, a member of the Freedom Caucus, said of Johnson. "I think — I’m just going to be blunt — I think some of his staff is not looking at this thing the way it should be. And I’ve voiced my disagreements with staff on some of these issues."
Representative Bob Good, the newly-elected chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, endorsed this sentiment, saying he is disappointed in the House leadership and how FISA had been handled along with other must-pass pieces of legislation, most notably government funding.
The Congress passed a two-step continuing resolution in November this year , much to the displeasure of many members. However, members were assured at the time that this would make Congress work on appropriations bills and conference with the Senate to ensure government funding doesn’t lapse come January 19 or February 2. But that hasn’t happened.
Since passing the two-part continuing resolution, the House has been in session for three weeks and hasn’t passed a single appropriations bill. Neither has the Senate. Nor have the two agreed on a top-line number for appropriators, the Washington Examiner observed.
"We have made very little effort to pass appropriations bills ever since the CR was passed, so I’m disappointed about that," Good said. "I don't know what the plan is come January 19. I don't know what our commitment is to reduce spending year over year, which we absolutely must do, no matter how modest that might be."
All this will lead to a virtual scramble when the House resumes on January 9 to pass the first set of four appropriations bills that will expire on January 19, giving Congress only eight days in session to do so.
"The key decisions he’ll have in the first quarter of next year should have been made five weeks ago or four weeks ago," a senior House Republican told the Washington Examiner. "And the longer the Speaker takes, the more disastrous the first quarter will be."
Johnson, however, shifted the onus from the house to the Senate, blaming it as it was controlled by Democrats.
"Listen, we're all hands on deck on the appropriations bills, as we know we have looming deadlines, and we all agreed on that," Johnson said. "But we're awaiting the other team ... the other chamber to come forward with a number that we can agree upon that we write to, and that's the impasse, and that's what we're waiting for."