The Accidental Speaker

Harold A Black

A recent article in the Washington Post was entitled “Mike Johnson, the Accidental Speaker, is among the most consequential.” I was wondering how Johnson is “the most consequential” in his short time as Speaker. Given his razor thin majority and the factiousness of the republican caucus I admire his being able to get anything done. But what has he done that the Post is so praiseworthy of? He has passed a government funding bill, reauthorization of the foreign surveillance law, aid for the Ukraine, legislation to seize Russian assets and a ban on Tik Tok. The Wall Street Journal also has praise for Johnson for these items as well. 

However, none of them are especially critical components of the bucket list of items most of us deem important: the southern border, inflation, the administrative state, regulatory overreach, lawfare against conservatives, the war on fossil fuels, the shutting down of Federal land for coal, gas and oil, the EV mandates, growth in federal spending, Title IX rewrite, and woke bureaucracy and military. Where is Johnson on these issues? How can he be “most consequential” if he has only shepherded through the easy stuff? As I have said before, all of the hard issues have been left for the republican AGs to fight via lawsuits against the federal government. The republicans in congress are busily just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Consider that they have recently passed a bill to stop Biden from withholding weapons to Israel – a bill that has no chance of being signed into law. They passed a law to stop hidden junk fees on ticket sales (whoopie). They passed a law to expand the definition of antisemitism. 

Go to govtrack.us. There you will see that there are 15,114 bills and resolutions currently before congress. Only about 7% will become law. As of May 17, 2024 there are 16 bills and resolutions on the congressional calendar. Not a single one of them deal with any of critical items listed above. Not one. Rather you have republicans introducing the Wippes Act (To require the Federal Trade Commission to issue regulations requiring certain products to have “Do Not Flush” labeling), The Think Differently Transportation Act (To require Amtrak to report to Congress information on Amtrak compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 with respect to trains and stations) and the Working Dog Commemorative Coin Act. Recall that Boris Badenov bypassed the congress when he was spraying goof gas to turn smart people into idiots. After listening to a congressional debate he said to his sidekick Natasha Fatale “Someone beat us to it.” Talk about Nero fiddling while Rome burns! If Johnson is the most consequential speaker then he is lording over the least consequential House of Representatives in history.