Politics

The Terrifying Learning Curve Facing Mike Johnson – POLITICO

Published

1 year ago

October 26, 2023

When Republicans drafted Paul Ryan into the speakership eight years ago, it was head-spinning. The magnitude of the task and sheer volume of responsibilities were jarring, even for someone with more than 15 years of legislative experience.

Experience, it seems, is no longer an attractive attribute for a Republican speaker. It was perhaps Mike Johnson’s short tenure in the House that allowed him to win the gavel. But now he faces a terrifyingly steep learning curve and almost no margin for error.

Each speaker is different, and Johnson will come to develop his own way of running the House. In the short term, however, a neophyte speaker will naturally create a leadership void simply by nature of being new to the job. That might mean Steve Scalise, a fellow Louisianan who was just passed over for the top job, becomes the most powerful majority leader in decades — perhaps since Tom DeLay.

I’ve seen firsthand how difficult it is to be thrust into the speakership, serving as an aide at Ryan’s side after he took over from my former boss John Boehner.

At the time of his ascension, Ryan was arguably the most famous member of the House of Representatives. He had recently served as Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential running mate. He had engaged in high-level negotiations within his own party and with Democrats, and he successfully moved difficult legislation through the House and into law. He understood the media and knew how to drive a message. He had relationships with major donors. He was also as aligned with leadership as anyone outside of it.

What he quickly learned was that none of it mattered much. Nothing can fully prepare you for the speakership.

Ryan leaned heavily on Kevin McCarthy, then majority leader and someone who had also just seen his own speakership hopes dashed, for institutional knowledge and to guide the decisions needed to keep the House moving forward during a period of major disruption. We simply could not have gotten through the first year without him.

While Johnson goes through some on-the-job training, Scalise may be the person best positioned to shape and drive legislative outcomes. If he’s willing to wield power, Scalise could have enormous influence on the ultimate success of the Johnson speakership. Because for Mike Johnson, the job ahead is daunting, and the early weeks and months will be an exercise in learning all he never knew he didn’t know.

Johnson is aware that he needs to set an agenda for the House, but he will quickly realize this is a more sprawling undertaking than meets the eye. There are the big things — keeping the government open, passing a supplemental appropriations bill to support Ukraine and Israel — but also countless other legislative priorities of members and committees in various stages of readiness. It’s his job to make sense of all of it and demonstrate to members that they are making progress.

Indeed, two words will come to define life for Johnson: member management. Anyone outside of the top levels of leadership simply has no idea the volume of member priorities, problems, rivalries and interpersonal dynamics that you must appreciate and navigate. Being armed with this background alone makes Scalise invaluable. Johnson is likely already hearing from an endless parade of members seeking this and that — promises he often can’t keep and many in conflict with others. Success or failure in the job can simply come down to keeping members happy, busy and focused.

In short order he will need to learn the mechanics of operating the floor. The speaker’s authority, particularly over the Rules Committee, is critical to maintaining order in the chamber and avoiding the humiliation of failed votes.

Johnson will also need to develop relationships that are fundamental to lawmaking. He will serve as the chief negotiator between the House and Senate, and must quickly gain the trust of Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. Similarly, the speaker is the House’s point person for dealing with the White House. While he doesn’t need to make friends, he does need to establish a relationship with President Joe Biden.

The speakership comes with enormous institutional responsibilities, from keeping the Capitol and the people who work there safe, to the upkeep of the building, to presiding over countless ceremonial events. He now has national security responsibilities that will regularly keep him in classified briefings.

The speaker is also the face of the House GOP, and Johnson must be prepared to meet the press. He will be the chief communicator for the conference, required to consistently drive messages and rally support for the House’s agenda.

The speaker must stand up a large-scale political operation, develop relationships with donors and set a political strategy for protecting a thin majority. For all the things he must quickly learn, the new speaker’s schedule will constantly be crushed by basic obligations of the job.

Above all, the job of speaker is a problem-solving one. The discord in the House GOP is well documented, and it is the job of the speaker to break through the pettiness and inspire members to set their sights on a higher purpose. The most difficult decisions land in the lap of the speaker. Even once you’ve gotten down the basics, you spend much of the day figuring your way around detours and out of cul-de-sacs.

In the best of times, all of this would be impossible for Johnson to master immediately. Of course, these are not the best of times, and pressing priorities with short timelines are staring him in the face.

Many members of the House will say it is not the job of the speaker to drive outcomes, but rather to simply oversee a fair process. Indeed, Johnson, like his challengers, ran on a pledge to decentralize power.

While they may not say it this way, Republicans seem intent on wanting a weak speaker, and they are likely to get their wish, at least in the short term. Members have increasingly bought into the fallacy that it is the heavy hand of past speakers to blame for a failure to deliver spending cuts or other priorities, rather than a result of the realities of divided government.

Nonetheless, they believe the solution is giving committees and individual members more say on how the House functions. This is fine, so much as members are willing to accept the power and use it constructively. There is little evidence though that all members of the House are interested in the trade-offs associated with governing. The reality is that the House does not function on its own, and most of the major policymaking that falls on leadership to execute is the result of the failure of members to do the hard work of policymaking and creating governing coalitions.

Members want both a hands-off speaker and big legislative progress. This is where Scalise can assert himself and shape the success of the Johnson speakership, much like DeLay once did to corral the House GOP. Indeed, maybe a weak speaker and a strong majority leader is what the conference actually needs.

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Politics

‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

Published

1 day ago

November 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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Politics

Saskatchewan NDP’s Beck holds first caucus meeting after election, outlines plans

Published

1 day ago

November 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.

Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.

She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.

Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.

Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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Politics

Nova Scotia election: Liberals say province’s immigration levels are too high

Published

2 days ago

November 7, 2024

Anne Joseph

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.

Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.

“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.

“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”

The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.

“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”

In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.

“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”

Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.

Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”

In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.

In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.

“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”

Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.

“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”

The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.

“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.

“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax

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