Immigration bill collapse shows GOP failure to govern
As our government dealt with funding Ukraine during its struggle with a rapacious Putin, with funding assistance to Taiwan as China declared their determination to integrate this democracy into their hegemony, and with funding aid to Israel during its response to the Hamas Massacre; the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson (R-LA), to meet demands from his far-right flank, insisted no aid would be available unless the government addressed the “crisis” at the border.
Governance is not just a group of persons with titles who do little to nothing except howl. Governance is work and requires the constant attention of those elected to do that work.
Most of us expect our government to confront issues that need addressing; to keep us safe from a marketplace that too frequently markets products that can kill; to be there when any state in our nation is beaten down by nature; to protect us from foreign intrusion in our elections; to conduct elections that are free and fair to all our citizens; to ensure our economy benefits us all; to protect our lands and parks for the pleasure of future generations; to ensure that certain segments of our community do not suffer from abuse by powerful, wealthy interests who frequently are less concerned about their impact on our lands and people; to basically ensure our government continues “to keep the lights on.” None of these functions are inherently partisan.
Governing is a daily effort not to defend business nor to oppose business. Governing, as our Founding Fathers hoped, would protect our ability to live our lives in security and safety, protected from threats foreign or domestic, economic, or physical. A teacher once told me how our democracy works: I have the right to swing my fist, but that right stops at your nose.
Returning to Mr. Johnson and his reactionary cohorts and their demand that any money to Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel be tied to immigration, rather than present their version for consideration; the House abdicated any role, leaving it up to the Senate to act. The Senate did. After weeks of legislative haggling and sincere efforts to legislate, Republican and Democratic senators had achieved something not done in 30 years, a major piece of legislation addressing immigration.
In those 30 years, immigration changed immensely. Thirty years ago, whites were the largest single group of immigrants. Now they are brown. And that color change had much to do with the fears of Republicans and their white base of being overrun by nonwhites. But Republicans under the leadership of very conservative Senator James Lankford (R-OK), Democrat Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Kyrsten Sinema (DAZ) reached a deal limiting asylum requests, closing the border completely depending upon numbers, huge investments in border manpower, and in many respects giving Republicans much of what they desired.
This piece of legislation clearly would not have been the bill it was had the House been in Democratic hands. Simply, this was the best piece of legislation on immigration that Republicans were ever likely to achieve. This was an undeniable demonstration of both compromise and governance.
After weeks of work, after passing with overwhelming support from both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, and after a concerted effort by Republican leadership to push Speaker Johnson into supporting it; Donald Trump inserted himself into the debate. He demanded the House kill the bill, a bill that generally Republicans would have been thrilled to support. Proving their inability to govern, Speaker