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.”
RE: 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.
OK, what do these riot act readers intend to do about it other than capitulate and not have a border wall?
Translation: We have open borders. The same immigration policy of Imperial Rome in 400 A.D. Rome didn’t have an immigration policy in 500 A.D.
Because it didn’t exist any more.
From the Trump-hating jerks at The Hill
Well then, ‘Frustrated GOP Senators’, get $15 billion guaranteed for the wall and we’ll make things happen. Real quick.
A difficult concept, I realize....
Yeah, it was $5 billion. Now get your “colleagues” to do something before we ask for even more money.
The Dems lied to Reagan about fixing the problem down the road. Trump should never cave.
I see Lamar Alexander follows Mitts in voting against the President.
Well, we Tennesseans finally got rid of Corker. Now we need to get rid of Alexander the Great(Fraud)
Scumbag chronicles - bump for later...
Hey, I’ve got an idea, Senator. Fund the wall! Problem solved.
I hate the cowards!
.……...sorry, I don’t believe anything coming from the Hill...…………...neither should any of us!
The so-called shutdown needs to be expanded in scope and made permanent. Allowing for any necessary corrections in designations, this should include all “non- essential” personnel — and all unconstitutional or unnecessary bureaus -
They need a spine transplant from a tadpole. It would be 10X better than what they have now.
The dumbasses. Maybe back in December if they would have had a discussion with McConnell and dumped that idiotic 60 vote rule...you wouldn’t be here now.
These idiots are like someone who won’t put up a tent, and blame others when it starts raining.
Morons.
Until the Repubs win one of these shutdowns, the shutdown, or the threat of it, will be an unbeatable card for the Dems. For the good of the Republic, Trump needs to win this one.
This demand to end it soon is just another whining plea to surrender. Usual suspects, including Murkowski.
Yep. Romney wasted no time filling his new role as the failure theater vote in the Senate.
The Amazing Spineless Republicans. A sorry bunch of surrender monkeys. Jeeze Louise it’s pathetic.
Just declare the national emergency and get this over with...order the wall built with all haste...once it is up, it cannot be “defunded” - it is there, unlike other so-called “security measures” that could be eliminated a day later. There would be ruckus and screams if that was done but once the wall is being built and has been built it would be ho-hum with people wondering what the big deal was to begin with.
The media of course has fed the false narrative that the Republicans shut down the government - no, the Democrats used procedural moves to keep the bill from even getting a vote - a bill fully funding the government had passed the House, likely would have passed the Senate (with Pence tie-breaker), then signed by the President - the government would not be shut down, the so-called “controversial” wall would not be controversial (because it never was) and none of this would be happening. But the media isn’t reporting that. Virtually no one in this country knows that is what caused the government to originally shut down - Chuck Schumer and his caucus not even allowing the bill to be voted on that indeed, fully funded the government. That doesn’t excuse establishment spinelessness, but that doesn’t diminish how outrageous it is to intentionally misinform the public as to what the truth is, either.
Caving now would be a total disaster - the narrative would not just be that Trump caved, but that the government was literally shut down for nothing for over a month if we get nothing at all - and that would be true.
All I see is a “look at me” hissy fit.
They dont want a wall. Don’t you get it by now? The GOP isnot your. Stop listening to Hannity tell you, “Democrats bad, Republicans good”. It ain’t so
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.