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Posted on 08/24/2013 2:16:58 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint unexpectedly quit Congress this winter, saying essentially that he could better advance the conservative cause as president of the Heritage Foundation think tank than in Congress.
Roughly eight months later, DeMint has no doubt pressed Congress, and House Republicans in particular, to take a conservative stance on such issues as the Farm Bill and President Obama’s health care law.
Heritage and DeMint won at least a partial victory on the recent Farm Bill vote, getting the House to split funding for food stamps from the rest of the bill but saying more reform is needed on the billions being spent on crop subsidies and other programs. And votes of sequestration, the debt limit and immigration are also on the near horizon.
But DeMint’s biggest challenges to date appears to lie in the weeks ahead when Congress returns in two weeks to vote on a temporary spending bill, which DeMint hopes will not include money for ObamaCare.
“We know that ObamaCare is unfair,” DeMint has said repeatedly over the past few months, as dismantling the law has emerged as a primary focus. “It’s unaffordable, unworkable and very unpopular. And this might be our last chance to stop it. … This is an urgent matter.”
Democrats and Republicans will try to agree before Oct. 1 on the temporary spending bill that funds federal agencies, with the possibility of a government shutdown should the sides fail to reach a deal.
DeMint is trying to put the specter of a shutdown on Obama, saying the president will be to blame should he insist on keeping his “flawed law” on the negotiating table.
Others in the Tea Party movement such as Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul have said the GOP -- by controlling one-third of government with the...
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Jim, thanks for your focus on this particular issue. I have sent numerous letters to my reps in the House and Senate. None of them have sent me a reply that makes me comfortable with their commitment to de-funding this calamity.
The odds of defunding are not that good, I don’t put it past the MSM to set it up that if they fail this time the TEA Party is finished.
It’s not like they haven’t done that a hundred times already.
I’m really conflicted on this. We know the media will blame Republicans for any shutdown, even though there’s supposed to be a give and take between the parties in D.C. What I don’t want is to lose seats in the upcoming election over it. On the other hand, it seems we have to draw the line somewhere.
I think I’m somewhat pragmatic. I don’t expect the Republicans to roll back a lot of government, including Obamacare, right now, because they simply don’t have the votes to do so. What I do expect is for them get concessions from Democrats. However, that’s hard to do when the president simply does whatever he wants regardless.
I agree the GOP is in a tough position. But it doesn’t matter what their strategy is if the GOP doesn’t fight they are going to lose. The Dems/MSM will steamroll them again.
No more of this tip toe to the election and hope the electorate will do the heavy lifting. We have seen this movie before and it has a bad ending.
I say God bless Jim DeMint - and others - who are trying to sound the alarm on the whole 0Care debacle. Shame on those who've lost their conservative, even original Republican platforms, footing.
“I’m really conflicted on this.”
here we go again...
Every GOP thread has a “burn GOP because they’re all RINOS anyways” but when the GOP finally acts on what WE WANT, it’s “OH, I think we shouldn’t do that!”
Really? Which is it?
I want to win, not just fight battles. There are a lot of political veterans who think a government shutdown is the wrong approach. I’m not ready to denounce everyone of them simply because they don’t agree with the approach taken. The goal is smaller government.
BTW, I’m not sure which approach is better. There’s clearly risk either way. That’s why I wrote I was conflicted on this.
I do think Republicans should try to wrangle concessions out of the Democrats either way. They weren’t sent to D.C. to give the Democrats whatever they want. Unfortunately, the president and his regulatory minions are out of control, and the senate will block any attempt to impeach.
“the senate will block any attempt to impeach.”
we’ve got all the time, dude
I don’t agree a Republican is a RINO/GOPe if they don’t agree with the defunding approach. I think some of them want Obamacare eliminated as bad as the rest of us. Listen to what they’re saying. They think there’s a significant risk of losing the next election if we give the media the chance to play the evil Republican meme again. Do I think they’re right? No, but it’s something to consider.
I’m simply saying a RINO/GOPe is someone who supports Obamacare or simply wants to fine tune it a bit. Obamacare is an abomination. In a free country, the government simply has no right to tell any of us what to do with privately funded health care (they do have the right to control health care that’s paid for with government $$$). A person isn’t a RINO/GOPe if they despise Obamacare but want to use a different approach to eliminate it.
We can’t continue to keep making enemies of every last person who disagrees with us. An 80% friend is our friend, so long as it’s truly 80% agreement.
Rep Renee Ellmers (R-NC) is one of the Reps who says she's against the Heritage Foundation's push to defund 0Care, but, she admits she doesn't have an alternative way to do away with it.
Jim DeMint and Heritage are heroes.
Well, you make a valid point (that they don’t have alternatives), but that still doesn’t mean they’re so-called conservatives simply because they disagree with the defunding approach. They may not know what to do about Obamacare at this point. To tell the truth, I don’t have any easy answers either so long as Democrats hold the senate and presidency.
I guess we’ll find out who are true allies are if the defunding approach is actually attempted. Once we’re committed, then we need to win it. I think it would do even more harm to the conservative cause to start a government shutdown and then not deliver some sort of political victory when all is said and done.
As I wrote earlier, we need to force some concessions out of Democrats. That’s how a divided government works. We elected a Republican congress, and our votes are just as important as the ones that elected Obama. Since neither side has an outright majority, both should compromise.
That’s my big complaint about Republicans. When we held power, we didn’t roll back government in any meaningful way. Our representatives sold us a line of crap. Now that we share power, we should still be fighting for concessions in order to give Democrats concessions. In the past, however, it always seems like Democrats propose whatever they want, and compromise means giving them only slightly less than that.
Yes, they are!! Woo hoo!! Welcome back, dearest onyx!!
I guess we’ll find out who are true allies are if the defunding approach is actually attempted.
Should be:
I guess we’ll find out who our true allies are if the defunding approach is actually attempted.
Once a course of action is determined, Republicans need to learn to stand together. Democrats are very, very good at forcing party unity.
This is total scorched earth. There will not be a Republican left in office that votes to fund this communist madness. DOWN WITH OBAMA CARE RIGHT NOW!!
Kick him out.
Really?
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