Posted on 01/24/2019 8:25:14 PM PST by be-baw
Frustrated GOP senators read Vice President Pence the riot act at a closed-door meeting Thursday, telling him the partial government shutdown needs to end soon, according to lawmakers in the room.
Republican senators, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), warned the vice president that prolonging the shutdown is not a smart political strategy, in hopes of sending a clear message to President Trump that he needs to resolve the crisis as soon as possible.
Lawmakers vented their irritation to Pence shortly before six GOP senators defected to vote for a Democratic-backed bill that would open the government without funding Trump’s proposed border wall.
One GOP senator said lawmakers told Pence “the shutdown needs to come to an end, this is not a strategy that works [and] we never should have had a shutdown in the first place.”
Pence in turn told them that “the president is interested in striking a deal,” according to the source.
The pushback against Pence came from outspoken critics of the shutdown like Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), as well as from lawmakers who usually keep a lower profile — Sens. John Boozman (Ark.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.) and Jerry Moran (Kan.).
One of the most remarkable moments during the Senate luncheon came when McConnell told Pence that shuttering the government to try to secure funding for a border wall was not a smart approach.
“McConnell talked about how we need to bring this process to a close; we should never have had a shutdown; they don’t work; I’ve said this numerous times; I don’t know how many times I’ve told you there’s no education in the second kick of a mule,” said a GOP source familiar with the meeting.
A spokesman for McConnell declined to comment on specific conversations during the private lunch but noted that the Kentucky Republican made his thoughts about a potential government shutdown clear in mid-December.
“I think that a government shutdown is not a good option. That’s my view. The American people don’t like it,” the GOP leader told reporters on Dec. 18, four days before funding lapsed. “You remember my favorite country saying, ‘There’s no education in the second kick of a mule.’ We’ve been down this path before.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said after Thursday’s meeting but before the Senate votes that colleagues were “airing their concerns.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters after the Senate votes that Pence got an “earful” from senators.
“We’re all hearing from our constituents who are working for no pay,” Cornyn said. “And there’s a parade of horribles of how people who are having to cope with not getting paid, and it’s not good.”
“There was a lot of frustration expressed about the situation we find ourselves in,” he added.
Pence urged Republican lawmakers at the lunch to stay unified, pressing them not to vote for the proposal from Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) to fund the government until Feb. 8 without additional funding for a border wall, according to the GOP source familiar with the meeting.
To underscore the stern message they sent to Pence, six Republicans — Murkowski, Isakson and Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Susan Collins (Maine), Cory Gardner (Colo.) and Mitt Romney (Utah) — voted for the Democratic proposal. But the 52-44 vote fell short of the 60 needed to advance the bill.
Murkowski said after the votes that she told Pence the shutdown has to end as quickly as possible.
“I reminded colleagues that I was feeling a very keen sense of urgency on this because Alaska has the highest number of federal workers that are impacted by the partial shutdown and we needed to get this open now,” said Murkowski, who is supporting a measure with Democratic Sens. Ben Cardin (Md.) and Chris Van Hollen (Md.) that would reopen the government for three weeks without providing wall funding.
Isakson’s spokeswoman, Amanda Maddox, said her boss "spoke to his colleagues at today’s lunch to share his reasoning for voting the way he planned.”
“He didn’t know the vice president would be at today’s lunch when he decided on making the speech,” Maddox said. “He wasn’t trying to send any message but was merely speaking his conscience.”
Democrats are terrified about what happens the first week of February, when the EBT Cards don’t get filled. The Dem Cities are going to explode in violence, and they know it.
And Pelosi and Schumer read this and just remain obstinate.
Keep the critters in an uproar!
It means it’s getting to them.
Yea!!
If these slow learner gopers had stood with Trump from the day he took the oath... there wouldn’t be these things to read the riot act over. IF they had allllll stood with Trump... things would be different today! ryan is gone... thank goodness.. he was a huge stumbling block.. mcconnell is half there and half not... that won’t work either.
No need to put the blame on Pence and Trump... they’ve done more than any President in history... with as much flack and incoming they have had to endure... especially Trump... they’ve been on him constantly and the GOP is hiding...
Dem Cities is full O’ Gibbsmedats
Dey gonna burn if de handouts dri up.
I could be wrong, but I suspect this is fake news.
Did mike tell them to sit down and shut up?
The Republican establishment will get everything they want. Trump forced into humiliating backdown. No Wall. And 2020 going to the Democrazies.
“Our Side”—Objection! Assumes facts not in evidence.
I sustain your Objection!!!
I am so thoroughly disgusted with so many GOPe/Rinos capitulating and voting with the loathsome RATS.
It’s just a shame that President Trump cannot establish a MAGA party with which to govern that is reverent of our Constitution and genuinely believed in putting America First!!
Not a waste if enough of us do it. Be sure to write to the President as well. He needs to know we still have his back.
You clueless asshole!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cornyn is complicit, not clueless.
Bush League Republicans MUST become extinct before the Republic does.
All of the Furloughed Federal employees in the entire nation, all 800,000 of them, would not make up enough voters to constitute one Congressional district. . . they are a drop in the bucket constituent wise for Senators!
“Bush League Republicans MUST become extinct before the Republic does.”
There is only ONE surefire way to make that happen - and it is not via the ballot box.
What, the media? This is another of their infamous "anonymous sources" stories. I don't believe one word of it coming from them.
Old McConnell has no credentials except to know where the Senate bathroom keys are hidden. He has done diddly squat as a Republican in the Senate that was not endorsed by The Establishment. He may be a good “mechanic” as to the ways of the Senate but it ends there. SCREW McConnell!!
They can’t be that afraid.
If they were they would hurry up and fund the wall.
They aren’t afraid.
They are COUNTING on it so they can attempt to lay the bloody consequences at POTUS’ feet.
They don’t care about us, they don’t care about the government employees and the gibs are just their shock troops.
All they care about is money and power.
If the border closes they lose both.
They’re evil.
One former senator set the world on fire as Sec State in addition to leaving scores of dead behind her on her way up.
She is certainly not the only one.
This is how they operate.
What’s a few cities on fire as long as they remain in power?
They’ve burnt down entire countries for less!
(end rant)
Another idea, let it last for months and see if anyone other than D-voting federal workers gives a damn. States can take over airport security and air traffic control if those workers refuse to work without pay, or Trump could try to pay them with emergency hurricane fund or something.
Repukes, the whole lot of them.
Democrats stick together, that’s why they win.
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