Bipartisanship is saving Speaker Johnson, driving legislation

Friday, May 3, 2024

In this week's newsletter: Bipartisanship is saving Speaker Johnson, driving legislation

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“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold,” William Butler Yeats wrote in 1919, and a scan of daily headlines suggests Yeats was a prophet for our times. But amid election-year tensions that invariably will exacerbate conflicts between the parties, the parties are finding ways – at least at the moment – to maintain stability to Washington and start advancing legislation.

Speaker Johnson endures

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) lasted just eight months in that post and his acting successor, Patrick McHenry (R-NC), decided he didn’t want the job on a permanent basis. But – with House GOP hardliners divided over whether to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), and with Democratic leaders vowing to support him – Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) hope to “vacate the chair” next week almost certainly will end in failure. In essence, the two parties will vote for continuity over chaos, and that vote will come less than three weeks after Johnson joined with Democrats to support a $95 billion foreign aid package that – to the consternation of hardliners – includes more funds for Ukraine.

Farm Bill drafts surface

The 2018 Farm Bill expired last September 30, but lawmakers extended it to buy time to enact a new one. Now, both chambers are beginning to dig in. This week, House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) released separate, and distinctly different, draft legislative proposals. We’re pleased that conservation, innovation, and forestry provisions that mirror recommendations of our Farm and Forest Carbon Solutions Task Force, as well as investments in SNAP and other nutrition programs called for by our Food and Nutrition Security Task Force, are included. Thompson set a committee mark-up for May 23; Stabenow hasn’t announced her next steps. Chances are far greater that a bipartisan measure will emerge in the Senate, where the committee’s top Republican, John Boozman (R-AR), called Stabenow’s draft a “welcome development,” than in the House, where the committee’s top Democrat, David Scott (D-GA), rejected Thompson’s draft. SNAP is among the big battles to come: the House draft would limit the Administration’s ability to boost benefits on its own (as it did in 2021) by updating the Thrifty Food Plan – which determines the maximum benefits that beneficiaries can receive. Another big battle will be over IRA-enacted conservation programs and how those funds would be used.

FAA reauthorization takes shape

Legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration, which also emerged this week, won’t face the hurdle of competing proposals. After months of talks, the chairs and ranking members of key committees – Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and ranking Republican Ted Cruz (R-TX), House Transportation Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-MO) and ranking Democrat Rick Larsen (D-WA) – announced a five-year, $105 billion bipartisan bill that lawmakers hope to enact before the current FAA authorization expires on May 10. That won’t be easy; some senators are planning amendments, and there’s talk of a “manager’s amendment” to attach unrelated measures – e.g., a bipartisan, bicameral advanced nuclear legislative deal and the Kids Online Safety Act, which has bipartisan support in the Senate but that might not pass on its own in the House. Whether the House would accept an FAA authorization bill with both changes from the bipartisan draft and attachments is unclear.

At the White House today, President Biden honored 19 impressive individuals with the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award, the nation’s highest civilian honor. We want to single out one recipient, Elizabeth Dole – the very embodiment of public service, as was her husband, Senator Bob Dole, one of our founders. BPC honored them both by creating the Bob and Elizabeth Dole Series on Leadership. Congratulations to her and to all of today’s distinguished recipients.

Have a nice weekend. We'll be back in touch next Friday.