Johnson Gets the Jump on Senate's $106B Bill, Announces House Vote on 'Clean, Standalone' Israel Aid

In the Cure's post-punk/alternative tune, "10:15 Saturday Night," singer Robert Smith expressed the feeling of time crawling by, dropping the perfectly apt metaphor of a leaky faucet.

He intones that "[he's] sitting in the kitchen sink, and

The tap drips
Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip [etc.]

That's been the experience the House Republicans and Speaker Mike Johnson have endured while waiting days on end for the Senate to send over actual copies of the $106 billion combination aid package for Israel and Ukraine, along with border security. My colleague Mike Miller wrote about Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) blasting senior Democrats in the Upper Chamber, especially Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (and Mitch McConnell) over the boondoggle of a bill, directing an exasperated "Hell, no!" at "....the Law Firm of Schumer & McConnell ('The Firm'), which is perpetually trying to normalize a corrupt approach to legislating."

He continued: "Whenever The Firm engages in this practice, it largely excludes nearly every senator from the constitutionally prescribed process in which all senators are supposed to participate."

READ: Mike Lee Takes off the Gloves Over Schumer and McConnell's 'Corrupt Approach to Legislating'

And indeed, Lee's not alone in his thinking among Republicans in D.C. Now, the Speaker says on Saturday, they're done waiting:

The House will vote next week on a new $17.6 billion Israel aid package that excludes the IRS cuts in their original bill, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Saturday.[...]
Driving the news: In a letter to House Republicans obtained by Axios, Johnson wrote that Senate leaders have “eliminated the ability for swift consideration” of an emergency spending deal by not including the House in the talks.
“Given the Senate's failure to move appropriate legislation in a timely fashion, and the perilous circumstances currently facing Israel, the House will … take up and pass a clean, standalone Israel supplemental package,” he continued.
Writing that the IRS offset was the “primary objection” Democrats had to the last Israel bill, Johnson argued the Senate “will no longer have excuses … against swift passage of this critical support for our ally.”

This is the way. When the Senate Democrats and their establishment Republican pals won't stop playing hide and seek with the bloated bill, you have to call their bluff. And that's exactly what Johnson has done here. Instead of House Republicans sitting idly by and letting the Senate force-feed them gruel (I wanted to use a different word), they drop the IRS cuts that Dems claim is the reason they can't just vote on the Israel aid package. Bravo to Johnson for doing this! Your move, Democrats.

Here's the full Cure song from 1978 (since it's the weekend, people. Relax a little, huh?):