Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
Senate Republicans are eagerly planning November votes on something old and something a little newer. The something old: Obamacare repeal, of course. The something a little newer (but still already stale): defunding Planned Parenthood.
The plan is to use reconciliation to get these things all the way to President Obama's veto pen.
The Senate will likely take up a package to repeal key parts of Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood sometime in November, the chamber’s second-ranking Republican said Wednesday. [...]
The House passed the reconciliation package last week. And Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said the legislation was headed to the Senate floor in the coming weeks, and that a vote-a-rama – a marathon series of votes – was coming.
“My expectation is that it’d be sometime this fall,” Cornyn told reporters. “The week or so before Thanksgiving looks like a good opportunity.”
The hilarious part is that, because the bill includes both an Obamacare repeal that's not pure enough for the likes of Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Marco Rubio as well as Planned Parenthood defunding that may lose votes from some Republicans who want to preserve their reputations as so-called moderates,
Republicans may not even have the votes they need to pass it through reconciliation's 51-vote threshold.
Boy, I'm sure glad Republicans have been on this mission to prove that they could use the majority to govern responsibly.