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.”
What has happened is that have not budged past the old “we’ll fund anything that isn’t officially abortion.”
By doing that, they have then officially committed no sins (of abortion).
What actually HAPPENS in a PP, I suspect (but it would be great to get some proof) vastly differs. “Oh you poor dear! OK here’s a Federally sponsored Pap smear along with a coupon for 50% off your next abortion.”
Hey Pro-lifers, shut up and vote.
Pray America wakes
Tom cotton?! Rand Paul?!
Hey RNC! You freakin Jackwagons, this is why NONE OF YOUR RANK AND FILE BELIEVE YOUR BS!
Congrats! BONEHEADS! You are ensuring a split of the party. Wonder why the MAJORITY OF REPUBLICAN voters don’t want to vote for “party” candidates? Dumbass!
Pretty disappointing when that is a priority over unborn lives Rand.
Hey RNC! You freakin Jackwagons, this is why NONE OF YOUR RANK AND FILE BELIEVE YOUR BS!
Congrats! BONEHEADS! You are ensuring a split of the party. Wonder why the MAJORITY OF REPUBLICAN voters don’t want to vote for “party” candidates? Dumbass!
Do you really believe that?
I hate to be negative, but I would not advise anyone to expect anything at all out of the Republican controlled Congress as long as Boehner and McConnell are in charge. And the length of time they are in charge will be a reflection of how worthless the Republican controlled Congress is. The election last year was all for naught. We all could have just as well stayed home. Obama could not defeat the voters, but the Republicans did.
Why can’t they vote on anything just straight up and down, instead of adding other items to get votes to which others will not vote? A lot of it has to do with money allocation. If we didn’t give D.C. all our ransom money and kept it in the states this wouldn’t happen.
In other words it was a poison pill- Defund planned parenthood but we’ll also do ALL THIS OTHER STUFF to destroy the military and rack up more debt.
It was a lose lose vote that dumbass Boner and McConnel always get trapped into
Donald Trump will gut the Republican Party and rebuild it.
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Not trashing Trump, but I don’t believe he will transform the GOP. That’s why my 1st choice is Cruz.
Trump’s not ideological, he’s a Chinese menu- small gov’t here, big gov’t here, populism there.
So, to the extent that he’s promised to do some very important things, that’s great.
But, he’s not going to transform the GOP into a conservative, limited gov’t party-— it’s not important to him- and he doesn’t promise it.
Over and over and over and over....
It’s just a dog and pony show. It does not matter what crisis it is this time, to them all that matters is getting another temporary spending bill passed so they can fund whatever until they come up with the next crisis just before the money runs out. They will pass the spending extension just in the nick of time to avoid the dreaded government shutdown. The rest of the time they don’t even come to work. Both parties. When was the last time they passed a real budget? I can’t remember.
So in other words, the usual suspects.
Which of these centrist quislings are up for election next year? Never forget.
There it is.
He was washed up long before this!!!
Sick votes from sick people BTTT
What the hell is the matter with Tom Cotton? He seemed pretty solid.
Wow, disappointed in Cotton. I’m all for strengthening the military, but no army on Earth will be of any help to a people who so brazenly stick their thumb in God’s eye.
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