They could, but that would require them to grow a spine.
Look how they're waffling on amnesty, I don't see much backbone there.
They're not spineless on this issue. They're on the other side, as are a majority of the House GOP caucus.
I believe that the Tea Party election of 2010 put the fear of God into both parties in Congress, and that we now have a de facto coalition government as a result.
People here are denouncing as "traitors" Republicans who have NEVER committed to a Tea Party view of the world.
In Washington, most elected officials are in broad agreement about most things. It will require an electoral revolution, or another kind, to change that.
The "Republican Party" will never change anything - they really, most of them, like it fine the way things are.