Congress averted a government shutdown yesterday afternoon. In today's newsletter, Carl Hulse, The Times's chief Washington correspondent, explains why conservative Republicans folded. — David Leonhardt
Good morning. We're also covering Israeli women on the front lines, Hunter Biden and travel trends.
A calculationSpeaker Mike Johnson yesterday did exactly what got his predecessor fired last year: He pushed through legislation to keep the government open with mainly Democratic votes. So is Johnson about to lose his job? Almost certainly not. Ultraconservative House members were sputtering mad that Johnson, the novice speaker, didn't drive a harder bargain with Senate Democrats on a short-term funding bill to prevent a shutdown this weekend. But they aren't yet ready to depose him as they did with Speaker Kevin McCarthy in October. The main reason is that the right sees him as an honest broker who listens to his members even if they don't like the deals he ultimately brokers. They trust him as a true conservative. They're reassured by his deep and public evangelical Christianity. So they felt better about swallowing a spending agreement that seemed inevitable anyway — since it had to be negotiated with Senate Democrats and the White House. Because of the resistance from the hard right, Johnson faced a choice. He could shut down the government and risk public ire or lean on Democrats to help him to keep it open. He chose the latter, calculating that a shutdown would hurt Republicans politically and that he was simply following through on a spending agreement previously struck by McCarthy. Republicans said it wasn't enough to fire Johnson. "It's not going to happen," said Representative Ralph Norman, a hard-liner from South Carolina who opposed the measure. "No one will put the country through that." The legislation that averted a government shutdown this week was a classic congressional Band-Aid. It keeps the spigot on into early March so lawmakers from both chambers can work on 12 spending bills. Importantly, Johnson won a "majority of the majority" — meaning most Republican votes, which is a marker that congressional observers follow — but just barely. In the end, 107 Republicans backed the bill and 106 opposed it, exposing the depth of his party's division over the bill. On the Democratic side, 207 supported it, with two opposed. It was not ideal for Johnson. The measure brought grumbling from his allies. "Our speaker, Mr. Johnson, said he was the most conservative speaker we've ever had," said Eli Crane, a Republican from Arizona. "Yet here we are putting this bill on the floor." The fight to comeA bigger challenge is yet to come for Johnson, when Congress takes up border security and aid to Ukraine. It remains unclear whether the two parties can find a compromise on immigration — and whether Donald Trump will urge other Republicans to defeat any bill as a way to prevent President Biden from claiming a bipartisan victory on border policy. Johnson will be under duress from both sides. The White House and even some Senate Republicans will pressure him to allow a vote on a package being negotiated in the Senate. If he does, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, has said she will bring up the motion to topple him. Whatever happens, Johnson does have a plan to restore faith in his conservative bona fides in coming weeks. He has pledged to push provisions restricting abortion rights and purported government overreach. He's letting committee chiefs pursue investigations of Hunter Biden and other Biden appointees. Democrats have the votes to resist these efforts in the Senate, but the fights could cause a difficult six weeks in the House until the next shutdown deadline. Johnson's good standing with his caucus wasn't the only reason that the House passed a spending bill yesterday. The weather also played a role. Members wanted to finish the deal so they could leave Washington before an expected snowstorm. For more
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Falling fares and A.I.: Read what travelers can expect in 2024. A TikTok miner: A woman made headlines after building a tunnel under her home. She is the latest in a long line of people who made a hobby of digging. Newspapermen: Billionaires like Jeff Bezos wanted to revive the news industry's fortunes. Instead, they're losing a fortune. Sex education: Emily Nagoski wrote a best seller about women's sex lives. Then her own fell apart. Modern love: "I have no moral objection to infidelity." Lives Lived: Peter Schickele composed symphonies, film scores and musical numbers for Broadway. To his resigned chagrin, he was best known as a musical parodist, the supposed discoverer of the fictional P.D.Q. Bach. Schickele died at 88.
College football: Ohio State hired the former Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien, a big swing in a desperate moment for the Buckeyes. N.C.A.A.: The Department of Justice joined a lawsuit against the collegiate athletics organization over its transfer rules. Fraud: The Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer is suing a former family friend, charging that he swindled Palmer out of nearly $1 million.
Make 'em laugh: On the Amazon Prime show "LOL: Last One Laughing," 10 comedians gather in a room with a goal of making one another laugh; the last one to keep a straight face wins. Despite the simple premise, the show has been a hit, spawning spinoffs in Canada, Colombia, France, Italy, Mexico and many more countries. (One place that hasn't had its own version yet? The U.S.) "The comedy antics — some prepared, some improvised — are often amusing," Calum Marsh writes. "But it's the contestants' strained efforts to suppress their laughter that are really compelling." More on culture
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