Morning Roundup: GOP Infighting Part III
Another day, another dose of GOP infighting. The intraparty conflict continues – and worsens – as we mark two weeks until the Department of Homeland Security runs out of funding. There’s a simple way to keep DHS open: work with Democrats to pass a clean bill to fund the Department at the levels agreed to by Republicans and Democrats. But instead of taking the easy (and responsible) way out, Republicans continue to struggle with internal division:
From National Journal: House Republicans’ Silent War Over Immigration Funding
“House Republican leaders and rank-and-file conservatives are engaged in a silent standoff about how to proceed on funding for the Department of Homeland Security.”
“In front of the cameras they are on the same page: Speaker John Boehner and hard-line conservatives alike pin the blame for any potential partial shutdown of DHS squarely on Democrats. But with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell telling the House GOP in private meetings—and through the press—that his chamber cannot pass a DHS funding bill, members are scrambling to find an alternative strategy.”
“Time to resolve the standoff is short: The department's funding lapses at month's end.”
“Centrist-leaning members have urged House leaders to bring up a bill funding the department that is devoid of the contentious policy riders rolling back President Obama's executive actions on immigration. Leaders have been reticent to even publicly entertain the idea, but hard-line members are starting to worry that under pressure from Democrats, the Senate, and the public, leaders will hold a vote on a clean DHS funding bill or a continuing resolution.”
“As a result, a group of conservative members is privately considering blocking any bill funding DHS without the immigration riders. The House Freedom Caucus—a new, secretive cadre of conservatives—is considering taking a stand against any procedural motion that would allow leaders to bring a clean DHS funding bill to the floor, according to several sources associated with the group.”
“‘The option is on the conservatives' table,’ Rep. Tim Huelskamp said. ‘There would be a serious effort to not approve the rule. … I'm pretty confident we'd have more than 30 Republicans vote against a rule.’”
“Leaders have been trying to head off this kind of infighting. Two members of the conservative group—Reps. Jeff Duncan and Ron DeSantis—already quit the GOP whip team after Majority Whip Steve Scalise made it known he will more strictly enforce party unity on procedural votes.”
“Now, at least some committee chairmen are following suit. For instance, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop confirmed Thursday that he told his committee at an organizational meeting this week that if subcommittee chairs vote against measures such as procedural motions, they should relinquish their chairmanships.”
“If a rule fails, the chamber immediately recesses until another legislative option can be presented. In that case, Republicans would either have to seek Democratic support for another rule or craft a strategy in the Rules Committee that would allow them to proceed to a vote without a rule. Neither option, however, would be politically savvy for the GOP.”
“‘I don't think John Boehner could withstand it,’ said one conservative House member, speaking anonymously to talk about potential repercussions for leadership. The member said that the ‘energy and vitriol’ from conservative activists and constituents would make it difficult for the speaker to maintain his credibility if he went that route.”
“Meanwhile, the Senate will vote on the House-passed DHS funding bill for the fourth time on Monday, but it is not expected to pass as Democrats continue to vote against it. House members have been urging McConnell to change Senate rules to pass the bill. But, publicly and privately, he has said he will not.”
From Politico: Senate frozen amid DHS fight
“But Senate Republicans are already expressing frustration that they’ve wasted too much time trying to appease their House counterparts by voting repeatedly on the same doomed DHS bill, which Democrats have filibustered three times. High-ranking GOP senators are sending a warning flare to the House: The only thing worse than missing the first deadline of the year would be fighting this battle all over again in March or April.”
“‘We’ve got to get off this. We’ve got to get it behind us. We have to at some point bring it to closure,’ said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 Senate Republican. A short-term DHS funding deal ‘would be a bad outcome for the Senate just in terms of us being to do other things. … If we have to do a short-term extension, we’ve got to revisit this. The next time it comes over, it will take another couple weeks.’”
“The partisan stalemate is also undermining Republicans’ attempts to show they can run Congress effectively as they head into a tough fight to keep the Senate in 2016.”
“‘This battle should be ended,’ said Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who wants a DHS funding bill with none of the immigration riders that the House attached to its version in January.’ When we were given the honor of the majority, we have to govern wisely. Shutdowns are not wise policy for key national security-related departments.’”
“Asked for his solution to the stalemate, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) responded: ‘Take the same time we’re doing this and pass an immigration bill. That’s what I want.’”
“‘We could be doing a lot of things,’ added Flake, who had helped broker a deal for comprehensive immigration reform that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) spurned in the last Congress.”
“But other ideas for resolving the standoff are in short supply. House conservatives on Thursday floated a lead trial balloon calling for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to gut the Senate’s legislative filibuster, which Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) had to awkwardly shoot down at a joint House and Senate Republican news conference. Instead, McConnell is setting up a fourth failed vote on the thrice-filibustered House bill after members return on Feb. 23.”
“… [A] CR that creates another Homeland Security deadline is not on the top of Republicans’ wish list.”
“‘It only postpones the problem. It just kicks the can down the road,’ said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). ‘Another cliff. It doesn’t solve anything.’”
“Yet even within the Republican caucus there’s been turbulence about the multitasking, even on those less contentious items. Some conservatives argue that the Senate should do nothing but let Democrats sit on the obstructionist hot seat, an argument that has not gained much traction as most Republicans try to look past the DHS battle.”
“‘I don’t think we should shut the place down,’ said Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who has big plans for tax reform and trade. “We’ve got to continue to do our work and not get distracted.”
From The Hill: GOP infighting grows over Homeland Security funding
“GOP infighting between the House and Senate is growing as Republicans work to prevent a partial shutdown of the Homeland Security Department at the end of the month.”
“House conservatives on Thursday pointedly criticized Senate Republicans for saying a House-approved bill funding the agency and reversing President Obama’s executive actions on immigration was dead in the Senate.”
“ [Rep. Raul Labrador] and other conservatives called for Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) to gut the Senate’s filibuster if necessary to move the House bill to President Obama. With Democrats objecting to the immigration language, Republicans in the Senate are far short of the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles.”
“‘We should change 200 years of precedent?’ Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told The Hill. ‘No. If you change it for one issue, then you change it forever.’”
“Tensions between House and Senate Republicans are nothing new.”
“Ever since House Republicans took over the majority in 2010, they have battled with their Senate colleagues over tactics.”
“The most notable fight came during the 16-day government shutdown of 2013, when some Senate Republicans openly complained that House Republicans were hurting their party by using a government-funding bill as an effort to defund ObamaCare.”
“Bad feelings have reemerged this week with the Senate repeatedly failing to move the House bill funding Homeland Security. GOP senators have said it is clear the bill doesn’t have the votes to pass the Senate, but House Republicans say their work on the issue is done.”
“While GOP leaders in both chambers have sought to turn their fire on Senate Democrats, the friendly GOP fire isn’t hard to spot.”
“But it seems unlikely Democrats will bend to the House GOP demands after the recess, and House Republicans all week have taken the position there is no reason for them to compromise.”
“That’s raised the likelihood of a partial government shutdown that is worrying Senate Republicans — and which will do nothing to defuse the tensions between the chambers.”
“‘It’s not livable. It’s not acceptable,’ Kirk said of the shutdown possibility. ‘When you’re in the majority, you have to govern. You have to govern responsibly. And shutdowns are not responsible.’”
Washington Post: McConnell, after his no-shutdowns pledge, quickly finds himself boxed in
“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, less than six weeks into unified GOP rule on Capitol Hill, is on the verge of seeing his most adamant pledge go up in smoke.”
“‘Let me make it clear: There will be no government shutdowns,’ McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a victory-lap news conference the day after he won reelection and a Republican rout gave his party the Senate majority.”
“That has left McConnell trapped inside a legislative box that he had vowed to avoid — and one that for the previous four years his close ally, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), frequently wandered into without an exit strategy.”
“But that 2013 shutdown cratered public support for Republicans, leaving them in a hole that took them almost a year to recover from, and McConnell has been adamant about not repeating the same mistake.”
“‘I don’t think a shutdown of the department whose purpose is to secure our homeland is a good idea for anybody,’ Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the most outspoken critic of the 2013 strategy that led to a 16-day shutdown, said Thursday.”
“McConnell made no public mention of the DHS showdown Thursday, sticking to his comments earlier in the week that Boehner will have to make the next move. ‘I think it’s clear we can’t go forward in the Senate unless you all have heard something I haven’t. And so the next move, obviously, is up to the House,’ McConnell said Tuesday.”
“The year-end funding showdown in December was built around the principle of avoiding this kind of brinkmanship, with Boehner and McConnell scuttling the possibility of a broad shutdown by passing 11 of the 12 annual bills that fund the federal agencies.”
“One possibility is to remove the immigration add-ons and pass a ‘clean’ funding bill, which would probably prompt the biggest revolt from conservative activists. Another option is to pass another short-term extension of DHS funding for a few more weeks or months.”
“The latter idea, more palatable to conservatives, only puts off for another day the same predicament leadership finds itself in now.”
“A third option is digging in for a fight and letting funding dry out for an agency that is seen as essential to protecting the nation from terrorists.”
“While that is anathema to many Republicans, the idea has gained traction, surprisingly, among some leading establishment conservatives.”
“‘The bottom line,’ [Sen. Joe Manchin] said, ‘is they could probably clean this up very quickly.’”