When Boehner doesn't go far enough to the right, we threaten to take his power away from him.
When Obama doesn't go far enough left, they assume he doesn't have enough power.
See all the "Super Congress" and "14th amendment means debt limit not real" stuff. Anything it takes.
They are effectively unconstrained by elections and the Constitution. Hard to win at chess when the other player is smashing your pieces with a hammer. They’ve even started trying to cover Gunwalker.
They're just trying to get the right angle, like the lone defensive back's last ditch attempt to stop a wide receiver on an open field.
The correct response to that would be to force the other player to play by the rules. Anyone in either body suggesting such things should be censured at least and preferably ejected by the rules. More importantly, the ethics enforcers should be ruthless but fair in enforcing the rules.
However, the Republicans (like the Dems) have too many skeletons in their closets and don’t want the same things applied to them. The problem is that the Dems take advantage of this and run roughshod over the rules since they don’t have any consequences attached - and they feel any publicity is good publicity. The Republicans still feel shame, so they don’t take advantage of it because they fear public exposure.