Lisa Desjardins:
We talked last night about deja vu, but I want to tell you that today has been extraordinary. And the stakes here are very high. This bill is now really on the verge.
In fact, you can pretty much say this bill is falling apart and it’s being taken off the table by Republicans. Now, I want to explain a little bit about why. There are a host of issues that Republicans don’t like in it. That the money for disaster relief is not paid for is one. That it would include some cost of living raises for members of Congress. Also, it would exempt members of Congress from Obamacare.
There’s also money for seasonal and migrant workers who are here legally, but some Republicans don’t like it. But, overall, there’s a process concern here. They say they weren’t consulted, they didn’t have enough time.
So I will show you what’s been happening today from members of Congress across a wide spectrum of members. Now, if you look at this, Chip Roy, Republican, known as a conservative, he wrote: “Vote no.”
Nicole Malliotakis from New York: “I will be voting no.” She’s more moderate. Then we have got Representative Golden of Maine. He will be voting against it. He is a Democrat. So, really almost the entire spectrum here saying they had a problem with this bill.
It is a political disaster for Speaker Mike Johnson. And another factor here is that Trump is speaking out. But that came after an important figure in the Trump world, Elon Musk, tweeted out that he was against it. So what we’re seeing here is a problem for Mike Johnson, but also a case of, who is really driving the ship here, not just for Republicans, but of government itself?
