When Mike Johnson took the Speaker’s gavel, he set forth a list of priorities that seemed fairly straightforward. Among the first items on his list was passing an aid package for Israel while finding ways to reduce spending. He quickly moved to make good on that, working with the GOP majority to draw up a bill that would send $14.3 billion to Israel while rolling back the budget for the IRS. The ink wasn’t even dry on the proposal before Democrats and their faithful media stenographers began blasting Johnson, accusing him of “politicizing” the proposed aid package. And Joe Biden has already threatened to veto the bill if it somehow makes it out of the House and Senate. (NBC News)

The Israel aid package, which includes proposed cuts to President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act, has not been well received by Democrats. They “are already blasting newly minted Speaker Johnson for politicizing a bipartisan cause,” NBC News Correspondent Sahil Kapur reports.

House Democrats on the Appropriations Committee published a statement of their own in response. They hilariously titled it, “House Republicans Delay Support for Israel.” What is not explained in the scolding missive is how the people who just drafted a proposal to send Israel more money than they even asked for are “delaying support” for them.

They go on to remind Republicans that the support of both parties in both chambers will be required for any proposed legislation to pass into law. (Ya think?) They further claim that the Democrats are “ready to work with House Republicans on a package that could quickly be signed into law.” But they’re obviously only talking about a package that they create, addressing their priorities and doing nothing to curb runaway spending.

The game being played by the Democrats is beyond obvious. They’re willing to pass some aid for Israel, but they want it lashed to “humanitarian aid” for Gaza and another huge slug of cash for Ukraine. They are frightened of attaching their names to separate bills because they know how increasingly unpopular some of their ideas are with the American public.

The Democrats also don’t want to cooperate on anything that might reduce or at least freeze spending. That includes cuts to the budget of the IRS. After all, we wouldn’t want them to run short of money to cover travel vouchers so they can drive around and harass blameless taxpayers while using fake names. Perish the thought.

Our crushing national debt is hanging over the collective neck of the nation like the sword of Damocles. The public is increasingly aware of and nervous about this, though it still doesn’t register in polls as a top priority for voters. But with better educational campaigns, they will soon be aware that these chickens are very quickly coming home to roost and it’s going to lead to cuts in popular social programs, including Medicare. By that point, it will be too late. The Democrats could actually do themselves a big favor by signing on to some of these cuts and explaining to their own voters that the gravy train was never going to last forever in its current form.

Even with a Speaker in place, if these jokers can’t even manage to pass a comparatively minor aid bill for Israel while they’re in the middle of a war with terrorists, how do they plan to push through a major spending bill to keep the government open? Someone needs to Remind Hakeem Jeffries and his pals of the same thing they’ve been telling the GOP for several years now. Elections have consequences. While it was close, you lost the midterms and now you have to play ball with the other guys for a while if you want to get anything done.