Be wary of Mr. Smoothy

Trump has finally installed a Speaker of the House fully dedicated to the MAGA cause. Mr. McCarthy was kicked out for having the audacity to work with the Democrats to solve a key governmental problem, a shutdown. For a couple votes, Jim Jordan was put forward, but the “Legislative Terrorist,” as former Speaker Boehner tagged him, had too much baggage for some GOP moderates, so they settled on “Mr. Smoothy,” Mike Johnson. 

Mr. Johnson is best known for being a key architect of the Electoral College objections fomented in the effort to keep Trump in office following his 2020 defeat. In his new role of Speaker, Mikey wasted no time validating allegiance to the king by leading House Republicans to pass an Israel aid package that excludes aid for Ukraine, and by adding a $14.3 billion cut to IRS funding. The Congressional Budget Office estimates this move would reduce federal revenues by $26.8 billion and add $12.5 billion to the deficit in the next decade.  

Recall that under Trump as president, the tax cuts generated by his Republican majority were assessed by the same Congressional Budget Office to add more than $1.5 trillion to the country’s debt. These tax cuts gave 80% of the benefit to the top 1%. The current House Republican proposal to cut funds from the IRS is just an additional bump to help those who benefited from the previous cuts to cheat on their taxes and keep more of their ill-gotten gains. 

By the way, our two Berrien County U.S. Representatives, Huizenga and Walberg, seemed to be happy with either Jordan or Johnson as they voted for both at all opportunities.  They also voted “aye” for the tainted Israeli aid/ IRS funding cuts package.  

The House bill is a non-starter with both Democrats and many Republicans in the senate, who are insisting on funding for Ukraine as well as Israel and are opposed to cutting funding for the IRS.  

Ed Shaffer 

Galien