Memories...
Recall the
latest GOP game to embarrass Democrats over Obamacare and threaten shutting down the government? Central to this effort is a Republican senator who should know something about public embarrassment, Louisiana's David Vitter. He's held up Senate work for a week, as it's tried to pass an energy bill, by insisting on his Obamacare amendment. For once, Democrats are playing some hardball in return, and have
decided to show the good senator that the game works both ways.
Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, has infuriated Democrats this week by commandeering the Senate floor, demanding a vote on his amendment repealing federal contributions to help pay for lawmakers’ health care coverage.
But Democratic senators are preparing a legislative response targeting a sordid Vitter episode. If Vitter continues to insist on a vote on his proposal, Democrats could counter with one of their own: Lawmakers will be denied those government contributions if there is “probable cause” they solicited prostitutes.
According to draft legislation obtained by POLITICO, Democrats are weighing whether to force a Senate vote on a plan that would effectively resurrect Vitter’s past if the conservative Republican continues to press forward with his Obamacare-bashing proposal.
One word: diapers.
That'd be a nice reminder for everyone, as Vitter contemplates a run for governor of Louisiana in 2015. For right now he's all bluster, saying this is Harry Reid "acting like an old-time Vegas mafia thug, and a desperate one at that." But all that bluster might not be backed up by Vitter's fellow Republicans, who might not want to champion their sleazy colleague on the Senate floor.
Stand with Daily Kos and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in denouncing Republicans and their childish Obamacare games.