Posted on 01/06/2015 5:18:01 AM PST by LeoMcNeil
The new Congress will begin its session today. Conservatives will try to oust Speaker John Boehner and will fail badly in their efforts. From there the question is what direction is the new Republican Congress going to take things. The next 100 days are crucial for the Republican Party, which badly needs to show its capable of governing. It’s a given that President Obama will veto just about every bill Congress sends him. The key for Republicans will be passing bills the general public can support while making Obama look like an obstructionist in vetoing them. It’s easier said than done of course. Congress also needs to stand up to unconstitutional executive lawmaking by the President. Again, it’s easier said than done for the Republicans.
It appears that Boehner and company plan to pass several bills they’re collectively calling jobs bills. These bills focus on military veterans, restoring the 40 hour work week and authorizing the Keystone XL Pipeline. The military bill is nothing but pandering to base Republicans, though pandering to veterans has broad appeal. Boehner is aiding Obamacare by trying to restore the 40 hour work week. While restoring the 40 hour work week is good, it should not be done to aid Obamacare. Having said that, the Republicans are framing that bill as a pro-woman bill. Apparently 63% of the people negatively affected by Obamacare’s 30 hour mandate are women. Keystone XL is a no brainer that has broad public support. In all, these populist bills will look reasonable to most Americans which is why a Presidential veto will look obstructionist.
The problem for the Republican Congress is that it appears unwilling to battle Obama over his executive amnesty laws. Sen. John Thune suggested Congress won’t shut down Homeland Security over executive amnesty. Half the problem for the Republicans is that a substantial minority supports the sort of amnesty Obama is after. They might not like the methods Obama is using to obtain amnesty but they support his end goal. As such, they don’t have the stomach to fight Obama’s unconstitutional law writing. In doing this these Republicans are failing to appreciate the long term problem with Obama’s executive amnesty policies. He’s tossing aside the Constitution in order to create law when Congress refuses to do so. This isn’t about amnesty or illegal immigration, it’s about the Constitution and how laws are created in this country. By doing nothing, this Congress is telling future Presidents that they are free to take the power to legislate for themselves.
What will this Congress do with Obamacare? Obviously conservatives want the bill repealed. Everyone understands that the President will veto a repeal bill, as such a repeal bill is only symbolic. It appears that Congress is prepared to amend Obamacare to make the law more workable. Restoring the 40 hour work week is one way to amend Obamacare and in doing so it helps make the bill more tolerable. What else are the Republicans going to do to prop up Obamacare? Will they cut or eliminate various taxes in the law which are unpopular? Will they cut the individual mandate tax? Will they amend Obamacare so that individuals in states that did not set up exchanges are eligible for subsidies? That’s an issue before the Supreme Court right now, Congress could make the lawsuit moot with a one sentence bill. As time goes by the Republicans appear less willing to oppose the Obamacare boondoggle.
One thing that we can be nearly certain of is that conservatives will be dreadfully disappointed in the new Congress. It’s unlikely that John Boehner and company will advance a true conservative agenda. Instead, they’ll continue to fund Obama’s pet projects, they’ll refuse to challenge him on his power grabs and they won’t attempt to dismantle Obamacare. They won’t pass tax cuts, they won’t touch social issues with a 10 foot pole. In the Senate, one wonders if the Republicans will even hold up or not confirm dozens of judicial appointees. While Boehner’s pandering jobs bills might have broad support, they really aren’t going to tackle very much. Meanwhile the national debt is over $18 trillion and the Republicans have no plan for reducing spending. If the Republicans don’t advance a conservative agenda and if another liberal gets the GOP nomination, you have to wonder at what point will conservatives simply leave the Republican Party.
Remodeling their new office digs.
First things first. Nothing will be done with Obamacare until SCOTUS votes on the mandate in June. Depending on that vote, the Establishment will negotiate how to keep Obamacare alive, but palatable to some of its critics while the base will want it dead and buried.
Whoever wins that battle wins the WH in 2016.
That is definitely a conditioned I suffered until 2012.
Not any more.
Not when the agenda of the GOP is to hand Obama whatever he wants in the unspoken name of Fascism and DESTROY Conservatives and render us into political irrelevance.
The Battered wives of the GOP better wake up and get out, or one day soon, they are going to end up dead by the hands of the very party they couldn’t leave.
John Boehner will see what stocks he can get and make a bundle of money like he is doing with obamacare.
In short John Boehner goal is to loot.
You are right. But the gop is obviously not listening, and they have already told me that they don’t care about my existence, whether they recognize it or not.
So I have had it with sending them messages they don’t hear. Now I am all about destroying that faithless party, so a conservative party can grow in the ground it is currently occupying.
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