Posted on 09/24/2015 5:34:25 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Two of those Republicans, Rand Paul and Tom Cotton, opposed the bill not because of its Planned Parenthood provisions but because it didn’t meet their priorities on other government spending. Paul voted no because it would lead to another $400 billion in debt; Cotton opposed it because spending on defense wasn’t high enough to suit him.
I haven’t seen explanations from the other six but five of them are among the most centrist members of the caucus. (Ben Sasse is an exception.) Did they take issue with some element of spending too, or was this in fact a vote to protect Planned Parenthood?
The vote divided Republicans, with eight of them breaking ranks. Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Susan Collins (Maine), Tom Cotton (Ark.), Dean Heller (Nev.) Mark Kirk (Ill.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Ben Sasse (Neb.) all voted against moving forward…
After the vote, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) filed a new short-term spending bill that would fund the government and Planned Parenthood…
[Sen/ Ted] Cruz could try to force weekend work by objecting to a request to adjourn on Friday, but he could be rebuffed by a majority vote…
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), questioned as to whether the Senate would work this weekend, said “no.” Asked if he was sure, he replied, “yeah, I’m pretty sure.”
Ayotte and Collins both said recently that they didn’t want to waste time on a defunding bill that had no hope of passing, but that doesn’t explain why they voted no once they were forced to take a position. Maybe … this explains it?
Not only does a plurality not want to defund Planned Parenthood, but nearly as many people would support a shutdown to protect funding for PP as would support one to defund it. Then again, just 48 percent of the people polled say they’ve seen any of the sting videos. What would the defunding numbers look like if, say, 75 percent had?
The next stop in the Senate now is a clean spending bill without the Planned Parenthood provisions. Ted Cruz may try to block that but passage is a fait accompli. Then it’s over to the House where Boehner will do … what? His Speakership is on the line if he caves too soon, so maybe it’s time for hardball:
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is expected to announce Friday morning in a closed meeting that the House will ramp up its oversight of Planned Parenthood, and immediately begin drafting a budget reconciliation bill that would strip the group of its government funding. That bill will only need 51 votes to pass the Senate, and is likely to reach President Barack Obama’s desk. He is expected to veto it. Furthermore, Boehner (R-Ohio) and the GOP leadership will announce additional votes on anti-abortion legislation…
Boehner huddled Thursday afternoon with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who leads the Freedom Caucus, and Reps. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.), Reid Ribble (R-Wis.). and Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), all members of the conservative group. Upon leaving, none of them would commit to trying to overthrow Boehner. But the Freedom Caucus held two private meetings today, according to a source.
Let me ask a question that I can’t believe I need to ask: Does McConnell have even 51 votes to defund Planned Parenthood? He didn’t today, but maybe that’s because Ayotte and Collins meant it when they said they didn’t want to bother with show votes on a bill that was doomed to be filibustered by Democrats. If McConnell uses reconciliation, there’s no filibuster; Ayotte’s and Collins’s votes will be crucial to forming a majority. I’m assuming they’ll fall in line just because, even for the Senate GOP fail caucus, it’s unthinkable that they’d crap the bed by not getting a simple majority to put this bill on Obama’s desk. Right?
Update: Ben Sasse’s statement:
“I reject more Washington false choices and empty gestures. Nebraskans know this city isn’t serious. They did not send me here to participate in kabuki theater. They sent me here to bring conservative values and common sense to a broken city. Washington’s false choice between ‘fund it all’ or ‘shut the government down’ is nonsense. This city stumbles from crisis to crisis by short-term budgeting. And that’s no way to run a bait shop—let alone the federal government. I am committed to defunding Planned Parenthood and restoring Congress’ constitutional power of the purse through a real debate about how we prioritize the federal government’s most important duties. It’s way past time we consider individual appropriations bills and have a serious conversation with the American people.”
Well we can count Rand Paul pretty much out of the race.
Selling butchered baby parts for profit results in nothing from our leaders.
Why even vote anymore?
Ask these senators why a PRIVATE organization, deserves taxpayers money to butcher, kill and dismember defenseless, precious babies?
Ask BO et all, why they are willing to go to the wall and shut down the federal government for a BUSINESS enterprise that has broken laws?
Boy that McConnell sure is showing well he can govern!!
Uh,yeah.
Life is getting more depressing. What DOES matter anymore.
It’s all a joke. Making these arguments on a motion to proceed means as much as horse manure. That’s what is wrong with DC politics. They can say anything they friggin want and it’s all manure, straight from their mouths. If they don’t like something, offer a friggin amendment. If the leader won’t let you, rebel. But otherwise shut up with the bs.
No matter what happens in 2016, it is time for a new political party.
The GOP is worthless, does not represent its constituents, and refuses to confront evil.
It needs to go the way of the Whigs.
If this was truly,important to the peadership theyd be busting heads to get everyone in line. No effingmkidding theyd threaten to back opponents and pull committee seats.
The Republican Party has utterly failed us. We gave them majority of both houses of Congress and they have not done a damn thing. Each and every time, they cave to the Obama and the Democrats.
Donald Trump will gut the Republican Party and rebuild it.
Since the GOOBs are still looking for a battle to “pick and choose” from, and they’re getting harder and harder to come by these days in DC, I guess we’ll have to make the states force the defunding. Either that or legalize baby butchering to sell their little body parts and “tax the hell out of it.”
Our hero, Mitch Boehner.
Voting for murder is not what you want in your Book of Life. Obviously they have no fear of God.
Trump wears his care about America on his sleeve.
Since when has a politician done that?
Fault him till doomsday about the flaws in his views. But never accuse him of failing to care.
Disgusting
This was the Senate’s last chance to get it right on defunding Planned Parenthood....
FAIL.
Bush 2016! Hat trick yeah!
Figuratively speaking, the corrupt, post-17th Amendment ratification Senate wrongly ignores that the Founding States “voted” to defund things like Planned Parenthood as evidenced by the fact that funding things like Planned Parenthood is not one of Congress’s constitutional Article I, Section 8-limited powers.
The ill-conceived 17th Amendment needs to disappear, and corrupt senators and the vote-winning but unconstitutional funds for Planned Parenthood that they approve of along with it.
Remember in November ’16!
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