You may recognize the title of this post as the punchline to a joke that originated in the 1920s. It’s an apt description of how the House Republicans are currently operating. They complain loudly and publicly about bills and … then they vote for them anyway.
But a few bills came to the floor and passed with little controversy, including one which will become law:
- H.R. 227: Clergy Act, which allows clergy an opportunity to change their minds about contributing to and receiving Social Security benefits, passed 350-5.
- H.R. 7959: IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act, which would, among other things, allow whistleblowers to be anonymous and to get interest on potential payments, passed 346-10.
- S. 1318: Fallen Servicemembers Religious Heritage Restoration Act, which would direct the American Battle Monuments Commission to establish a program to identify American-Jewish servicemembers buried in United States military cemeteries overseas under markers that incorrectly represent their religion and heritage, passed 235-191. This bill now goes to the President for signing into law.
Now back to the House Republicans’ entirely self-created problems:
This week’s poorly received (yet passed!) bills were about another temporary extension of FISA Section 102, finally funding all of the Department of Homeland Security except for ICE/CBP and the long delayed update of the Farm Bill.
The root of the House GOP’s angst are
- a very small majority
- several factions with irreconcilable demands
- a refusal to accept Democratic votes to get bills passed (sometimes Democrats do vote with Republicans, but not as a necessary condition of passage)
The result though is consistent: for all the complaints, the bills end up getting passed in the House.
Outcome
- FISA Section 702 Temporary extension passed 261-111
- DHS funding for everything except ICE/CBP through the end of the fiscal year (September 30) passed by voice vote
- Budget Resolution that starts reconciliation bill process passed 215-211. This reconciliation bill will provide still more funding for ICE and CBP even though last year’s reconciliation bill appropriated $140 billion dollars for those agencies through 2029.
- H.R. 7567: Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 passed 224-200. There were several amendments to the bill which also passed (fairly unusual lately) and included changing SNAP rules to allow purchases of rotisserie chickens and removing proposed changes on pesticide labeling. Congress.gov has the full list of amendments, their subjects and whether they passed or failed. The bill goes to the Senate next.
Posting Schedule Note: Both chambers of Congress are now out until May 11, so the regular previews/recaps won’t appear, but you’ll hear from us on other issues!
Amy West is the research & communications manager with GovTrack.
The Food Was Terrible and Such Small Portions was originally published by GovTrack and is republished with permission.
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on August 14, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Trump is traveling to Long Island to tour law enforcement facilities in Nassau County and rally support for local Republican candidates ahead of the upcoming midterm elections
Travel Far Enough, You Meet Yourself
Is it possible that our President has simply not traveled enough?
Born and raised in Queens and attending Fordham University in the Bronx, Donald Trump has no record of traveling outside New York until he was over 20, when he transferred to a college in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania. Were his formative years amiss, then, in his learning about other places and other people?
Is his view akin to the famous New Yorker cover by Saul Steinberg, an illustration of the United States with New York City as the epicenter of the country and the Hudson River the border of the known world? We can now at least add Washington, D.C., and Mar-a-Lago to the map of “the realm.”
Our President has now traveled some, but what we recommend is another kind of travel. Not a state-sponsored trip or a venture to scout locations for future Trump Towers. This would be a genuine travel experience, enriching and eye-opening, showcasing other cultures and ways of living.
It will extend far beyond viewing military parades, hobnobbing with such “understanding” world leaders as Kim Jong Un, or taking tea with the King.
WHERE, then, should the President go? As Elon Musk’s Starship spacecraft is not yet ready to take passengers to Mars, perhaps he could explore our own vast country?
Maybe he could travel to “flyover country,” the farming states, where his ying-yanging tariffs and trade restrictions have played havoc with rural economies. Or possibly to California, number one in homeless U. S. citizens, and while there, regale homeless veterans (approximately 32,500 nationwide) with tales of his brave exploits invading and bombing foreign countries.
Or he might tour the Great Lakes, and rename the other four?
WHEN should he go? This will be tough, as he is very busy building his ballroom and renaming bodies of water.
How about a trip in early November, around the midterm elections? Despite the long-discredited accusation of widespread voter fraud, it would be reassuring to know he might be so caught up divvying out ladles of soup in a soup kitchen somewhere that he wouldn’t remember to deploy the military for “election security.”
HOW will he travel? He should definitely not take his Qatari-donated, newly renovated 747, especially after last time, when he had to be smuggled off clandestinely in a catering truck. It’s unlikely any traveling companions, like the Secretary of State or of the Treasury, are going to fall for the ruse a second time. Besides, we may need those people. No more decoys!
Perhaps the President could fly commercially, although this likely would expose him to undue suffering. Without gold bathroom fixtures and maple wood floors, the trip will be no “Luxury Experience.” If only he still had his “Trump Shuttle,” bought with a massive loan he later defaulted on, saying then, “I’m smart. I got out at a good time.”
Considering the potential pitfalls, maybe it’s best the President travel incognito, disguised perhaps as an elderly woman wearing a lot of bronzer.
Wherever, whenever, however: our President needs a vacation.
Moreover, we need a vacation from him.
If the President refuses our travel suggestions, here’s another idea:
Let’s get him a pet! He has never owned a pet. As we know with our children, pets teach essential life lessons: compassion and empathy; they instill a sense of responsibility. There is a well-established connection between those who can care for a pet and those who can care for people.
So, which pet should we choose? A puppy? A kitten? A boa constrictor?
Imagine, the President may even decide he likes having a pet. After all, what is more obedient than a well-trained dog, besides possibly the Cabinet? And what is more docile than a sweet kitten, other than plausibly the Supreme Court?
The President may even become more mellow with a pet afoot and less likely to slap tariffs on our allies, or attempt to annex our neighbors, or bully our Congress. (Realizing, of course, a bully requires active participation from the bullied to maintain his status.)
Maybe we should do both: get the President a pet and devise a travel plan for him. (Do you think we could possibly convince him to leave his phone at home?)
Let’s go for it! After all:
Travel far enough, you meet yourself. (David Mitchell)
And for our President, that would likely be the most profound discovery of all.
Amy Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."