House Speaker Mike Johnson was the subject of a stern rebuke published by The Advocate, the largest daily newspaper in his home state of Louisiana, urging him and the rest of the House GOP “to get serious.”
Following the historic ousting of Representative Kevin McCarthy from the role in early October, Johnson, a Republican who has represented Louisiana’s 4th District since 2017, was elected speaker after several other candidates failed to muster enough support from the divided House GOP caucus. A relative political newcomer considering the import of his position, Johnson is now tasked with shepherding the House’s many pressing responsibilities, including, first and foremost, the passage of a funding bill to avert a shutdown of the federal government.
In a staff editorial published on Sunday, The Advocate called on Johnson and the rest of the House GOP to focus on averting a government shutdown, writing that it would have an outsized effect on their state in particular. The piece also gave some praise to the new speaker for his recent promise to bring back “regular order” to the House on budget matters.
“Our state is heavily dependent on federal spending in a multitude of ways, more so than many others,” the editorial reads. “That’s one reason why Louisiana does not need a new government shutdown, as is still threatened despite the ascension of north Louisiana U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson to the speaker’s chair.”
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Continuing further, the staff editorial then offered a critical rebuke of Johnson’s support of a measure that tied an aid package to Israel to considerable funding cuts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a move the newspaper decried as a “GOP hobbyhorse” that will add to the nation’s deficit.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that the bill, which planned to provide $14 billion in aid by cutting the same in IRS funding, could lead to a $12.5 billion increase in the deficit.
“Johnson was wrong to push an emergency measure that tied aid to our ally Israel to a GOP hobbyhorse, cutting the Internal Revenue Service budget, as some anti-government Republicans want to do,” the editorial staff wrote. “That just adds to the deficit, as it lets more high-income tax cheats defeat the system; for most of us, it just means the IRS can’t hire enough people to answer the darn phone. Cut the games. If you promise regular order, let’s see it in action.”
The bill was later passed by the GOP-controlled House, but was ultimately blocked in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Had it passed both houses, President Joe Biden had also pledged to veto it.
Newsweek reached out to Johnson’s office via email for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.