Morning Roundup: GOP's DHS Crisis Averted, Infighting Continues
Yesterday, the House finally acted to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the rest of the year and provide the agency with the resources it needs to keep Americans safe. Sounds like a great thing, right? Well, not to Republicans. Take a look at their continued infighting:
New York Times: House Approves Homeland Security Budget, Without Strings
“In the end, Speaker John A. Boehner was forced to build a majority on Democratic votes to pass the bill, 257 to 167, with just 75 Republican supporters.”
“Mr. Boehner’s turnabout came after his leadership team had a humiliating setback on Friday, narrowly averting a partial shutdown of the department after his more conservative members revolted against a Republican plan to pass a three-week funding measure.”
“But the backlash against the near shutdown of the agency was swift, with Republicans shouldering most of the criticism — from Democrats, from the news media and even from many in their own party. The Republican leadership — which had promised to govern effectively, without the threat of shutdowns, after gaining control of both chambers of Congress in the November elections — had now failed its first major governing test, and it realized it needed to move beyond the current fight.”
“This week, a Wall Street Journal editorial called the recalcitrant Republican conference ‘Cliff Marchers,’ warning that the impasse was a choice between ‘recognizing political reality, or marching off a cliff to almost certain failure.’”
“On Tuesday morning, Mr. Boehner presented three possible solutions to his members — a partial shutdown of the agency, another short-term measure that would postpone the fight or a ‘clean’ funding bill with no immigration provisions. His members quietly accepted full funding.”
“‘You would have thought we were talking about renaming a post office,’ said Representative Peter T. King, Republican of New York, who has long pushed to fund the department with no strings attached.”
“‘I do give John Boehner credit for standing strong through all this and guiding us,’ Mr. King said. ‘A certain group takes the party in this crazy direction, and we end up coming back and doing the right thing in the end, with just political damage done along the way. Thank God there was no governmental damage done along the way.’”
“But not every lawmaker seemed pleased with the outcome. Representative Tim Huelskamp, Republican of Kansas, said that the speaker had ‘just caved in’ and that his strategy had clearly failed.”
“‘Tooth-and-nail ended in here today,’ he said, referring to Mr. Boehner’s promise to fight the president’s executive actions on immigration ‘tooth and nail.’”
“‘Everybody kind of must have laughed to themselves when he said he’s going to listen and work with all members in the future. I don’t think a soul in there believed that story.’”
“Tuesday’s reversal by House Republicans also reflected a win for congressional Democrats, who had opposed any bill that did not fully fund the agency with no additional provisions, forcing Republicans into a jam — and, ultimately, into passing a clean bill, as Democrats had demanded.”
“Representative Charlie Dent, Republican of Pennsylvania and a moderate, also said the funding bill was a win ‘for the governance wing of the party.’”
“‘If we are going to spend all of our time and energy moving from cliff to cliff, crisis to crisis, shutdown to shutdown, it’s going to prevent us from doing the other necessary work the American people expect us to do,’ Mr. Dent said. ‘If we can get that right, then we can start dealing with other policy issues, whether it be trade, transportation, tax reform, whatever.’”
National Journal: The GOP’s Lost Agenda
“It is clear, members across the ideological spectrum said this week, that after two months of embarrassing legislative and messaging stumbles, the House Republican Conference is riddled with fundamental and systematic problems. Forget sweeping, ambitious tasks such as tax reform. Even the most basic GOP legislative priorities for the rest of the 114th Congress are now at risk.”
“What's left is an environment in which members worry that pressing issues coming up over the next several months will not be able to pass. Members fear they will flub a budget, appropriations bills, a fix for the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate, trade issues, a debt ceiling lift and myriad reauthorizations yet to be taken up.”
“As leaders recede behind closed doors to take stock of the damage, they have provided few solutions to their frustrated membership. But the display of disunity surrounding the DHS vote has pushed even members friendly to leadership to the point of exasperation. In particular, a failed vote to pass a three-week DHS continuing resolution last week miffed members who were told it would pass and voted for it, only to find 52 Republicans voting it into failure.”
“Members note privately that the mess of the last few weeks has amplified each of the top leaders' flaws, and they cannot be absolved simply by claiming the conference is unmanageable. Speaker John Boehner, several members and staffers said, has too easily allowed himself to be railroaded into dead-end strategies and, if he believes the strategies do have merit, has not articulated a broader tactical vision to his conference to the point where they can support it.”
“Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has been too foolhardy in scheduling bills for floor consideration, they said, failing to build consensus around policies before rushing bills that were largely written during the last Congress to the floor. And Scalise, who campaigned for the post as a would-be bridge between leadership and the right, has yet to prove he can get conservatives to vote for leaders' legislation or get leaders to skew far enough right in their policy proposals.”
“Members close to leadership said the question of how to move forward in what has become a toxic climate is being discussed, and leaders realize the status quo is not habitable.”
“To be sure, part of the problem is the balkanization of the conference. The group at the center of the most recent dustup, the House Freedom Caucus, formed this year with the explicit intent of pushing Boehner rightward, and has been a relentless headwind against Boehner ever since.”
“Centrist or pragmatist members such as Simpson are openly urging Boehner to cut the conservatives loose and start striking deals on center-right legislation with moderate Democrats—or at the very least, allow the bills on the floor to fail and then hammer conservatives for voting with Democrats against what leaders view as a good bill.”
“Their frustration with the speaker is only bolstered by the news Tuesday that a Boehner-aligned outside group, American Action Network, is running ads against Freedom Caucus members.”
“‘It does make you scratch your head,’ Rep. Mick Mulvaney said, ‘when you're sitting there getting a message from your leadership about how you're supposed to be a team player, you get a text from your office saying the American Action Network ... is running ads against you in the district.’”
“Voting on some of those issues sought by conservatives endangers members representing more moderate districts, who would have to repeatedly cast votes on ultra-conservative legislation. So leaders are caught in a paradoxical loop of fits and starts to which there may be no resolution.”
Politico: GOP probably stuck with weakened Boehner
“Nothing has changed for John Boehner.”
“When he kept hold of the speaker’s gavel fewer than 60 days ago, his advisers and close allies said the worst was behind them.”
“But that majority abandoned him in droves, turning their backs on Boehner and his top lieutenants, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and Chief Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, with the Department of Homeland Security on the brink of shutting down.”
“Turns out those moderates haven’t given Boehner much of a cushion at all. And McConnell has become more of a scapegoat for the speaker at times than a partner in arms.”
“After Tuesday’s 257-167 vote to keep DHS funded through September, an outcome secured predominantly by Democratic votes, Boehner is back where he started. He is wedged between his desire to govern, a conservative right grumbling about unseating him and his allies who want him to see him ditch the pocket of conservatives who oppose him at every turn.”
“And for the first time since he became speaker, the lawmakers closest to him are openly wondering whether he can effectively govern.”
“The clutch of conservatives who consistently bedevil Boehner are even less impressed with their leader than they were when they voted against him two months ago, if that’s possible.”
“Boehner has been unable to get the GOP rebels to fear him because of his unwillingness to impose serious punishment. And without discipline in a legislative body, the loudest, most disruptive factions are the ones that get the most attention.”
“Things aren’t going to get easier. Next up, Congress must update a complex formula that determines how much doctors who serve Medicare patients are paid. Then comes the always contentious highway bill and a budget resolution that promises big fights over taxes and spending. After that, appropriations season begins in earnest, another expected source of indigestion for Boehner. And in October or November, Congress must increase the debt ceiling, possibly the toughest vote of all for any Republican.”
“The question for Boehner is whether Tuesday’s vote was an isolated incident or the beginning of a pattern for this Congress of antagonizing the right wing. Will he be more willing to shake the far right loose and pass legislation with Democrats? Or will he insist on passing bills with only Republicans?”
“And when Boehner stood up during Tuesday’s closed-door meeting of House Republicans to describe his plan to pass a clean DHS bill — an acknowledgement that Obama had won and it was time to move on — he asked if anyone had a better plan.”
“Not a single Republican stood up to challenge him.”
The Hill: House approves Homeland Security funding in 257-167 vote
“The House voted Tuesday to fund the Department of Homeland Security, ending a months-long impasse over President Obama’s immigration policies and averting a weekend shutdown at the agency.”
“Tuesday’s roll call allows Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to finally turn the page on an ugly chapter in his leadership that consumed the opening months of the new Republican-controlled Congress.”
“But it also highlighted once again the tenuous power Boehner enjoys over his conference.”
“The spending bill cleared the House on a 257-167 vote only because of the unanimous support of House Democrats.”
“All 167 ‘no’ votes came from Republicans — more than twice as many as the 75 who supported the bill. Out of 21 House GOP committee chairmen, 12 broke with leadership and voted against the clean funding bill. Nine voted ‘yes.’”
“Supporters cheered the move, saying it would finally let the GOP move on to its agenda.”
“The DHS fight exposed deep fissures between House Republicans, who wanted to take a more aggressive stance, and Senate Republicans, who argued early on that Obama had a stronger hand in the standoff and would ultimately prevail.”
“Conservatives said they weren’t surprised Boehner capitulated to Democrats. But they still voiced frustration that GOP leaders hadn’t put up a stronger fight in Congress.”
“‘These cliffs are disastrous for all of us. Time to move on,’ said centrist Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), who has long been critical of the party’s strategy on the issue.”