Morning Roundup: "Hell No" Caucus Edition
A look at today’s news reveals the House Republican Conference deeply divided once again as the party’s most conservatives Members continue to buck House Republican leaders with threats of another government shutdown.
From Politico:
“The ‘Hell No’ caucus is once again causing headaches for Republican leadership.”
“A cadre of the House’s most conservative members will meet Wednesday morning at the Capitol Hill Club for Rep. Steve King’s regular breakfast to discuss lame duck legislation. Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who often serves as a de facto spokesman for congressional hardliners, is expected to attend.”
“These hard-line Republicans are already expressing their dissatisfaction with the plan outlined by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) during a closed door meeting Tuesday morning.”
“These conservatives estimate the number of Republican ‘no’ votes to be near 30 to 40 — enough to derail a vote on the government funding bill if Democrats oppose the measure.”
“‘For me, something that is shorter term allows us to hopefully deal with a Senate that is more negotiable. I’m probably leaning no [on the current House plan],’ said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.). ‘I think in terms of the CR omnibus, without a limitation language, there are not enough votes. I’m not on the whip team but listening to a number of my colleagues, there is more than enough concern.’”
“Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a leading conservative in the House, said on Tuesday that ‘the cavalry is coming’ and that he preferred to deal with the larger funding issues next year. And outspoken Rep. Tim Huelskamp, who has built a reputation around opposing Republican leadership, also backed a proposal that would only temporarily extend government funding.”
From the Washington Post:
“Recent success at the polls has done little to calm the internal rancor among congressional Republicans, who remain deeply divided over how to respond to President Obama’s overhaul of the nation’s immigration system.”
“The latest evidence came Tuesday as House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) unveiled plans to avoid another government shutdown while also allowing furious Republicans a chance to publicly repudiate Obama for acting on his own.”
“Some other conservatives want Boehner to be more aggressive.”
“Late Tuesday, Rep. Paul C. Broun (R-Ga.) called for Boehner to not invite Obama to deliver the State of the Union address next year. Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) suggested that the budgets for White House operations, including for Air Force One, should be decreased. Other conservatives have mentioned censuring the president, impeaching him or suing the administration over its immigration actions.”
And if last year’s harmful, costly government shutdown didn’t hurt Republican Members, why not do it all over again? That’s the logic of Representative Raúl R. Labrador (R-ID), who brings us our shutdown showdown quote of the day.
From Roll Call:
“We had a shutdown a year ago, and we just got the biggest majority we’ve ever had in the House since 1928, and one of the largest majorities we’ve ever had in the Senate. So I don’t understand their reasoning for taking anything off the table.”
Congress has only six scheduled legislative days to pass an omnibus spending bill that will avoid another government shutdown, but House Republicans show no intention of abandoning their habits of obstruction and dysfunction. Last year’s 16-day government shutdown, which apparently worked so well for Republicans, cost the U.S. economy approximately $24 billion and furloughed millions of federal employees. The American people cannot afford another government shutdown, and it is time for House Republicans to finally take this irresponsible option off the table.