Posted on 09/18/2015 6:47:05 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A morale booster for the big upcoming puah via CNS. The House passed a bill today that would freeze funding for PP, but that’s really just a consolation prize. Democrats will filibuster that if McConnell brings it to the floor in the Senate and then they’ll filibuster the spending bill if McConnell attaches an amendment defunding PP to that. If only there was some way to get around that darned filibuster, both on this matter and the Iran deal.
Dozens of House Republican lawmakers are making a late stab at pressuring Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to abandon the filibuster on legislation to block the nuclear deal with Iran.
A total of 57 House lawmakers signed on to a letter led by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) telling McConnell that blocking the deal was “simply so consequential” that it demanded a change to the Senate’s rules, known as invoking the “nuclear option.”
“Our request to eliminate the filibuster for some votes simply underscores that in a democracy the majority should decide,” they wrote. “The super-majority now required to advance legislation is 60 votes, which is not serving our country well.”…
“We are under no illusion that the elimination of the Senate filibuster for some votes will guarantee the passage of legislation much less its enactment into law,” they wrote on Thursday. “However, a move by the Senate to a majority vote that can approve some legislation would make it much easier for Congress to advance meaningful solutions to challenges our country faces.”
Why are House Republicans applying cross-chamber pressure on McConnell to win a symbolic victory by getting the Iran bill to O’s desk, where it’s sure to die by veto? You know why: Because, unlike their Senate counterparts, they’re all up for reelection next year and they’re all scared to death of the torches-and-pitchforks anti-D.C. atmosphere of Trumpmania. It’ll be hard enough for them to hold their seats in a presidential election year, when the electorate is bluer than usual. Having Republican voters spitting mad at Boehner and McConnell over their perceived impotence against the Dems and ready to throw all the bums out risks primary challenges in the spring and a demoralized GOP base in the fall. The best thing they can do short of actually getting something passed is to pit themselves against McConnell and hope that, by nuking the filibuster, he’ll pit the entire party directly against Obama. Then they can say they stood up to The One and that the only way to break the logjam is to replace him with a Republican. That might get Republican voters ready to vote.
If they’re going to pit themselves against McConnell this way, might they also pit themselves against Boehner if and when Mark Meadows’s resolution to replace him with a new Speaker somehow makes it to the floor? Boehner’s even more of a populist lightning rod than McConnell is. Politico thinks he’s in enough trouble that they’ve already begun wondering if Pelosi and the Democrats might swoop in to save him:
If hardline conservatives move to dethrone Boehner in the coming weeks – as many expect — House Democrats will be in the enviable position of deciding whether he stays or goes. If they side with the Ohio Republican or refuse to play ball, the coup will fail. If Democrats side with the Republican rebels, Boehner will be forced out, plunging the House into chaos.
In the meantime, Democrats are more than happy to sit back and watch the ongoing public Republican infighting.
“Whatever lets them stew in their own juices and whatever lets the temperature of those juices rise is what I think we should do,” said one Democratic lawmaker.
If Pelosi helps keep Boehner in office, he’ll be discredited on the right as a creature of the Democrats who’ll be under pressure to repay them with concessions on major bills going forward. Would Boehner want to govern that way? If Pelosi doesn’t help keep Boehner, his replacement will be under pressure to appease House conservatives on future votes to show that he’s an improvement over Boehner, resulting in a more conservative GOP majority. Why would Pelosi want that? What’s the way out of this maze?
Exit question: Might McConnell warm to the idea of nuking the filibuster entirely if the GOP’s 2016 prospects suddenly improve for whatever reason over the next few months? He’s promised not to do that, but the likelier it seems that the next president will be a Republican and/or that Republicans will retain their Senate majority, the more incentive there is to blow up the filibuster for good and govern by simple majority. Democrats are assuredly going to do this themselves sometime over the next 10 years if they’re back in control of government. Why wait for them to leap?
No way is he man enough to upset Obama enough to use his veto stamp.
This old doosh needed to retire years ago.
Old fart shut up
Hello? Is it a bill that says “I am voting for a government shutdown”? No. It is a bill to defund Planned Parenthood.
And he wonders why he was defeated by obama.
Ok Mr McCain — here is the question. Would you yourself write a check to PP to assist them in their “parts is parts” mission? If not then why expect the American people to pay for this disgusting business.
Accessory to murder.
McCain started ISIS and the Benghazi ATrocity,
and the IRS Atrocity.
Why has he not been indicted?
Of course not you POC. Killing babies is something you obviously have little problem with ...
Mrs McCain’s Little John John took parsing lessons from Satan Himself
Why is the guy who saved us from $50 lettuce telling us something we already know?
It isn’t the Republicans who are shutting down the government, the Democrats are threatening to shut down the government to keep funding Planned Parenthood.
No one votes for a shutdown. Congress votes for a budget -- "This is what we want. Government stays open, and spends money on this stuff and not on that stuff."
Then Obama comes along with his great big veto pen and shouts "I'M SHUTTING DOWN THE GOVERNMENT!"
People say, "Mr. President, why are you shutting down the government?"
And Obama says: "Because killing babies is THAT important to me."
There is no downside to the Republicans here, if they just tell the truth.
Time for GOPe to fade to a distant memory.
Lame comment from the lame senator. There never has been and never will be a vote to shut down the government, It may be a consequence of a vote or not voting on something else. Just a scare tactic to invoke fear.
Yes he is, apparently he didn’t learn squat in ‘NAM.
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