One Cheer for Republicans Doing the Right Thing
Ukraine lives to fight another day—but let’s not give Republicans too much credit for finally doing their jobs.
AS THE HOUSE PREPARED to break out of its months-long paralysis and at last approve crucial military aid to Ukraine, I was visiting an assisted-living facility where the activities coordinator had teed up patriotic music videos for a couple of dozen people gathered near a large TV set.
First up: Kate Smith recreating for a 1943 movie her November 11, 1938, performance of “God Bless America” on her CBS radio show, The Kate Smith Hour. It was the twentieth anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War I, and the first time Irving Berlin’s song was ever heard nationally. Smith called it “a song that’s never been sung before by anybody,” and “a song that will never die.”
The film clip had everyone singing, clapping, and cheering—residents, staff, aides, volunteers, and visitors, including me. But I was probably the only one tearing up. That’s because I’m obsessive about politics and America was, on that Saturday, about to finally do the right thing for an ally fighting for survival and the international order against an invader with a ravenous appetite for conquest.
So yes, thank goodness, we came through. That was one reason for my emotional response to Kate Smith, along with the touching enthusiasm for that song and sentiment right there in the room with me. At the same time, I wondered: Will it always be this hard, and take this long, to be proud of America?
Don’t get me wrong, House Speaker Mike Johnson deserves credit for defying the MAGA extremists threatening to oust him for holding votes on critical military, economic and humanitarian aid that roughly three-quarters of the House wanted to pass. Was it some sudden deeper understanding of U.S. intelligence? The recognition that if America doesn’t stop Russia with bullets for Ukraine, his son—entering the U.S. Naval Academy this fall—might have to fight a war? Was it a favor from Donald Trump, a Vladimir Putin admirer who kept quiet after he met with Johnson instead of raising his customary ALL-CAPS hell?
Whatever the reason, I am grateful Johnson got to this place. He made an eloquent case for aid to Ukraine, and hopefully this messenger can sway some hearts and minds.
On the other hand, as President Joe Biden noted amid his praise, “I have fought for months” for the aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. He proposed the package last October. It languished while three senators—a Republican, a Democrat and an independent—laboriously negotiated a border security component demanded by Republicans, only to see their work deep-sixed by Trump’s explicit directive that Republicans not solve that problem so he could campaign on it.
The Senate quickly adopted a version without the border compromise on February 13, and the House could have approved it right then. Instead, Johnson deliberated and consulted and came up with a Rubik’s Cube of a possibly career-ending plan that involved passing four different bills and relying on Democrats to do so. It sounded crazy, even to me, the author of a book about negotiating successful congressional deals—a complex, tense, volatile, and often prolonged process.
But the cases I wrote about were a decade ago—olden times!—when House and Senate leaders had more control of their members, lawmakers generally understood the limits of divided government, and most were interested in getting things done, not blowing things up.
Johnson came up with what sounded like an equally strange plan last fall to keep the federal government open: splitting a must-pass spending bill into two bills with two different deadlines, with the potential for two partial shutdowns. Failure would have been chaotic, but somehow it worked. The same is true of his tortuous path to passage of the national security package, designed to let every member “vote their conscience and their will” on individual elements without jeopardizing any of them.
As the final votes showed, substantial House majorities supported each one. And yet, even so, the process took months as Ukraine hoarded its rapidly depleting arsenal and Russia exploited its advantage. When the House finally acted, war analyst and Washington Post columnist Max Boot called it “just in time—and not a second too soon—to avert a Ukrainian collapse this year.”
Brinksmanship is no way to govern. Government shutdowns are costly for agencies that must plan for them and for taxpayers who pay those costs, plus worry about whether and when countless federal services and support might suddenly stop. And that pales beside the anxiety and anguish of troops waiting, waiting, and waiting some more for America to decide which side it’s on. Check out this tweet from Ukrainian diplomat Olexander Scherba:
Allies in existential fights should not be subject to congressional games and delays. It’s painful to picture Ukrainian soldiers monitoring American legislative twists, turns, and votes from the front. They should not have to worry about every arcane in and out of American politics, every shift in congressional strategy, every tantrum by spoiled MAGA extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Matt Gaetz.
Massachusetts Democrat James McGovern captured the conflicted feelings of relief and frustration when he told Johnson on the House floor, “I am so glad Republicans finally realized the gravity of the situation and the urgency with which we must act. But guess what, Mr. Speaker? You don’t get an award around here for simply doing your damn job.”
Johnson made the right decision for history, as he knows and has said. It’s sad that his speakership may be at risk for that. It is also sad that House Democrats, who helped Johnson get his foreign aid bills to the House floor, provided the votes they needed to pass, and may yet save his speakership, won’t get credit for behaving like responsible adults.
And they started acting that way long before last week. As McGovern told Johnson on the House floor, MAGA extremists have gotten him and the GOP nowhere while Democrats have stood up for the country and done the right thing “at every critical juncture”—supplying the votes to prevent a 2023 debt default and government shutdowns in September, November, and just last month, as well as to pass the National Defense Authorization Act in December and a bipartisan tax bill in January.
“Democrats have done the job that Republicans have refused to do. We don’t want an award for it. We don’t want a trophy for showing up to work,” McGovern said. “All we want is for Republicans to do their job, stop blaming Joe Biden for their own incompetence, and work with our side to find common ground.”
There are no awards or trophies in sight—unless you count the possibility that voters reward Democrats with a House majority in the November 5 election. Now that would be an occasion to celebrate with a raucous Kate Smith singalong. It’s no sure thing, but in MAGA America, it’s infinitely more likely than the rest of McGovern’s ask.
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