This morning's New York Times suggests that Republican resolve to keep the government shuttered until Obamacare is defunded may be on the wane. According to the Old Grey Lady, a small group of about two dozen hardcore conservatives led the push to make defunding the health care bill the price of keeping the government open. But now it looks like their tactics are wearing extremely thin--on some of their fellow Republicans.
For nearly three years, Mr. Boehner has been vexed by an ungovernable conservative group made of up ideologically committed conservatives from safe House seats. The group has defied his leadership, rallied others to its cause and worn its gadfly status proudly. Earlier this year, the speaker disregarded them and passed three major bills that attracted only a minority of his party. Instead, he relied on Democratic votes to pass a budget plan that allowed taxes to rise on the rich, relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy and an expansion of the Violence Against Women Act.
[snip]
In March, Representatives Matt Salmon and David Schweikert, both Arizona Republicans, responded with a threat to bring down any bill that did not have overwhelming Republican support through procedural maneuvers. The speaker has refrained ever since.
The Times provided a graphic of these teabaggers
here. The list should come as no surprise to anyone here. It includes a large chunk of wingers elected in recent years, such as Mick Mulvaney, Tim Huelskamp, Jeff Duncan, John Fleming, Jim Bridenstine and Tom Graves. It also includes two returnees from the Gingrich Gang (though the story doesn't mention it)--Salmon and Steve Stockman. In fact, the only people in that crew who began their current spells in the House before 2008 are Steve King, John Culberson and Phil Gingrey. According to the Old Grey Lady, this group has enough votes to dump Boehner if he passes a budget resolution that doesn't lobotomize Obamacare.
But a growing number of Republicans are now coming out and saying that unwillingness to sit and talk is hurting them in the long run.
“You have somewhere between 180 and 200 Republican governance votes in the House, and going forward on this issue and many other issues, we’re going to have to find a coalition of Democrats to work with,” said Representative Charlie Dent, Republican of Pennsylvania, “and recognize there is going to be a few dozen people on the Republican side who just aren’t going to be there on a lot of these major governance matters.”
With much of the government shut down, patience is wearing thin among some Republicans who see the maneuvering of the coalition of conservatives as counterproductive. In 2011, the hard-liners insisted on including a constitutional amendment to balance the budget in a House spending-cut bill, splitting the Republicans in a way that many believe led to fewer cuts in the final Budget Control Act than they would have had otherwise. In December, when they brought down the speaker’s proposal to let taxes rise on incomes over $1 million, Mr. Boehner was left with two choices: let the Bush-era tax cuts expire for everyone, or accept a bipartisan Senate plan that raised taxed on households earning over $400,000. He chose the latter.
“I’m not suggesting their motives are not legitimately felt, but you get to a point where we can accomplish something here, but we’re watching the speaker constrained on what he can deliver, a practical promise from a united House,” said Representative Patrick Meehan, Republican of Pennsylvania. “We retreat from a position of strength and accept something that’s worse.”
Dent and Meehan have good reason to be worried. They sit in districts that Obama has won in both elections--victories that even the Pennsylvania state legislature's gerrymandering couldn't take away. In my rather unscientific opinion, Meehan is almost certainly a goner if this lunacy keeps up, while Dent will have a real fight on his hands to keep his seat.
How far removed from reality are some of these wingers? Fleming opposes repealing the health care law's tax on medical devices because--wait for it--"it could improve a bad bill." It's sentiments like this that have even some more conservative Republicans rolling their eyes.
“They have never followed any leadership plan, and now all of a sudden the leadership has adopted their plans and we’re fully implementing their strategy and plan, which is I think is actually a lack of a strategy,” said Devin Nunes, Republican of California.
[snip]
To many Senate Republicans, the House’s position has now become mystifying.
“I can’t blame them for anything other than being sold a line that wouldn’t work, seeing the outside support and saying ‘maybe, maybe, maybe,’ ” Senator Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina, said of House conservatives. “Well, you know that train only in a children’s story actually gets to the top of the hill.”
For the record, Nunes has a lifetime American Conservative Union rating of 92, and represents an R+10 district. Burr has an ACU rating of 92, and was also a member of the Gingrich Gang that caused the
last shutdown. When people who should be right with you are getting ticked off with you, you know you're in trouble.
10:48 AM PT: Since this made the rec list, I thought I'd point out that one of the whackadoodles mentioned by the NYT, Raul Labrador, openly admits there's enough support for a clean bill. Seemingly underlining this, totallynext mentions in the comments that according to MSNBC, at least 17 Republicans--more than enough to pass it with Dem support--would support a clean bill if it ever came to the floor.