Wouldn’t be surprised if Langford doesn’t run for reelection. Occasionally some Repub throws a lot of work in to legislation, forgetting that their party doesn’t care about policy. He probably feels like a sucker. https://t.co/KD4AkKz8gT
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) February 5, 2024
We complain that every GOP legislator is an angry moron, but at least some of them have been functional enough to put together bills sufficient to be treated as legislation… or to hire staffers that will handle those details for them. But the Repub (Very) Base, and the Angry Toddler Caucus that speaks for them, is doing its best to undermine those last remaining props, like Langford. Cynic that I am, I agree with Josh Marshall — “Make No Mistake. The House GOP is On the Ropes Here.”:
I wouldn’t be so quick to assume Democrats got taken by working with Senate Republicans to put together this bipartisan border deal. There are a number of provisions in this deal which many Democrats won’t like at all just on the merits. That is an important question. But here I’m talking about the politics. It’s House Republicans who are in an awkward position now.
House Republicans are now clearly refusing to support provisions they’ve been demanding for years. Now they claim that they are refusing to support or even allow a vote on the deal because it doesn’t go far enough. But it’s a bit late for that since they were already pretty open about simply refusing to vote for anything until Trump becomes President again.
They certainly aren’t the only political party to opt for politics in an election year over the policies they purportedly want. But if they’re going to do that, it’s elementary that the other party will and should hit them over the head with it. Trump told them to kill the bill and the House leadership is doing everything it can to accomplish that. Trump owns them. They follow his commands…Over the last 48 hours every House Republican has been putting out statements that the bill is absolutely, positively dead on arrival. DEAD, they tell you! They’re protesting a bit too much. They really, really want this bill to die in the Senate. If it doesn’t get a vote in the Senate, there’s not a lot of pressure. Schedule a vote on what? House Republicans can reasonably ask. It hasn’t even passed the Senate. If and when it does pass the Senate it gets harder to refuse it a vote.
You and I both know that “NO!” is the Republican superpower. You have something so popular, so un-no-able and yet they say “NO!” and it works. But here the protestations give away the game. Can they prevent it from getting a vote in the House even if it passes the Senate? Probably? If I were betting I would say they can and will. But their actions tell us that they know refusing the bill a vote in the House after it’s passed on a bipartisan basis in the Senate will do them a lot of harm on their signature issue during an election year.
Democrats should force them to accept that damage. It won’t do itself. They have to force it. And the key is getting it passed in the Senate.
Counterpoint Open Thread: The Repubs Just Shot Themselves in Their Clown ShoesPost + Comments (123)