Johnson's Latest Spending Scheme Proves He's Dems' Useful Idiot
It’s another day that ends in “-y,” which means House Speaker Mike Johnson is busy stabbing conservative voters in the back.
Following days of backdoor scheming, congressional leaders released the text of their 1,547-page spending measure to fund the federal government through March 2025. Deceptively marketed as a “continuing resolution” or CR, the bill bears all the hallmarks of the bloated omnibus packages Johnson recently promised voters wouldn’t happen under his watch.
“We have broken the Christmas omni and I have no intention of going back to that terrible tradition,” Johnson told reporters in September. “So, there won’t be a Christmas omnibus.”
Now here we are in December, and what do have but a massive omnibus filled with all the pork items on the D.C. establishment’s wish list.
A skim through the gargantuan bill reveals numerous unnecessary provisions, including those related to “American music tourism,” informing consumers about cameras on smart phones, and consumer safety standards for certain types of batteries.
Among the most alarming, however, is a one-year extension of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC).
As The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland previously reported, GEC “funded the development of censorship tools” that work to silence (primarily conservative) speech online and “used ‘government employees to act as sales reps pitching … censorship products to Big Tech.’” The subagency is a named defendant in a lawsuit filed by The Federalist, JP, and the state of Texas in December 2023 to stop the federal government’s censorship operations.
In other words, Johnson willingly agreed to continue funding a federal agency working to silence Americans’ speech.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, perfectly summed up Congress’s latest spending scam following a closed-door Tuesday meeting among the Republican conference, telling reporters: “[Congress] is fundamentally unserious about spending. As long as you have a blank check you can’t shrink government. If you can’t shrink government, you can’t live free.”
But Americans shouldn’t be shocked at Johnson’s betrayal.
This is the same speaker who has time after time after time after time after time funded the Biden-Harris administration’s lawfare and other authoritarian activities, often with more support from Democrats than Republicans. He’s also the same speaker who told us that in no uncertain terms would he authorize more taxpayer dollars for Ukraine without an accompanying deal to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, only to turn around and do exactly that.
“That border fight is coming, and we’re going to die on that hill,” Johnson said during a January radio interview.
Nearly a year later, and conservatives are still waiting for that “fight.”
Johnson’s promises are about as meaningful as the gum stuck to the bottom of a shoe. As he’s demonstrated time and again, the Louisiana representative will fold like a cheap house of cards on any given policy fight at the first sign of confrontation, leaving Republican voters hanging in the wind.
And that right there has been the story of Johnson’s entire speakership. His willingness to further the status quo — even if it means empowering Democrats — has made him the left’s useful idiot. He’s a weak, impotent speaker going along to get along, and as per usual, it’s conservative voters who pay the price.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood