This isn’t the most glamorous story, but I think it’s a big defeat for Boehner:
House Republicans tried a fresh strategy Wednesday night: Go it alone on a spending bill.
The result was an embarrassing setback.
Wednesday night’s rank-and-file rebuke of GOP leadership — with 48 Republicans bolting on a temporary spending bill — underscored the fact that the House Republican majority is still struggling to find unity on major spending bills. It also showed they still need Democratic votes to help them govern.
The pressure from an angry Speaker John Boehner didn’t work — he even threatened to strip committee assignments. Four dozen Republicans —mostly conservatives — wanted more cuts, and they just said no, creating an uncomfortable scene on the House floor as the funding bill failed on a 195-230 vote. Democrats showed a rare moment of unity in overwhelmingly opposing the continuing resolution, which would keep the government funded through Nov. 18.
What happened was this: tehadists voted against the bill because they vote against all spending bills, Democrats voted against the bill because it cut money from a successful auto loan program in order to juggle the numbers and make the bill closer to revenue neutral. The program was popular and Rep. Gary Peters was able to rally support for it, and against the bill that would have cut it.
I realize this is all a bit “Inside Baseball” but it’s significant. It shows that when Democrats show united opposition in the House, Boehner’s in trouble, because he can’t get the teahadists to vote for much of anything.
Bago
He’s dead, Jim.
eemom
oh fuck you, you heartless asshole.
Amanda in the South Bay
I said it once, I’ll say it again-at this point, I dont really care what kind of bill passes, as long as the government doesn’t shutdown. I simply need those Gi Bill payments-otherwise its really, really bad.
boss bitch
I have Government Shutdown Fatigue.
Big Baby DougJ
I put up a Troy Davis thread.
ChrisNYC
BJ is suddenly all about what’s *not* here — disappeared comments, disappearing FPers, “silenced” commenters, curiously absent posts. It’s a negative space art project.
Mike
The big question is, “What happens now?” I can’t see Boehner “capitulating” and getting Dems to come onboard, so it’s going to be a replay of the debt ceiling fight, I imagine. The good thing about this is that Obama’s out of it and “above the fray” on this one. He should stay in New York for a few weeks, let congress stink this one up alone.
I have to ask a question, though. These 30 teabaggers that vote no on everything. Is there a spending bill they’d actually vote FOR? If they are too squeamish to vote on any appropriations bills, then what the hell are they doing in congress? That’s like their first priority–enshrined in the constitution (all spending bills originate in the house). Shouldn’t they at least show a pretense of governing?
wag
@Bago:
@eemom:
eemom– i think you’re misreading Bago. He isn’t celebrating or making light of the fuck-up-de-ness in GA. McCoy was the conscience of the Enterprise, and pointed out to Kirk when Kirk had blown it. I think (hope) that Bago was trying to be our collective conscience.
Big Baby DougJ
@ChrisNYC:
I’m not an expert on the Troy Davis case, I’m not comfortable posting anything substantive about it.
Frankensteinbeck
@Mike:
There are things they’ll vote for – stuff you know the Dems never will. They’d accept it if it repealed the ACA, for example.
The question continues to loom: Will the GOP House ever split? Because the Tea Party morons are a small minority directly opposed to the interests of the majority traditional GOP legislators – but every one of those legislators is afraid of a primary.
aisce
i realize as a poster on a political site, i’m probably supposed to have political thoughts on this topic, but i got nothing.
i just thought this was really, really funny. oh liberal media.
Gretchen D
If the House Dems are united, that’s a HUGE step in the right direction.
RalfW
More of this, please, House Democrats.
Don’t vote for a damn thing Boehner puts forward. Be an opposition for a while, see how fun it might be!
Frankensteinbeck
@Gretchen D:
The House Dems have always been united. It’s why Nancy is so popular. When she needs them to stand together, they do.
Gretchen D
I love Nancy, but even she can’t always manage the Blue Dogs.
Mike
Nancy manages the Blue Dogs better than most. The thing is, I think even many of the blue dogs are sick of the GOP’s bullshit as of late and aren’t going to bail them out of their asinine behavior.
Steve
I think this was pretty important. Using a natural disaster as a pretext to try and slash successful programs is pretty horrible, and it had to be stopped. Remind me, how many Republican programs were slashed in order to pay for the Iraq War?
RareSanity
This is what happens when you stir up the crazy. It was inevitable.
You can’t bargin with crazy. You can’t just turn crazy on and off. Crazy doesn’t care what is in its best interest…crazy is CRAZY!
Mnemosyne
@Gretchen D:
The Blue Dogs in the House are gone — they were virtually all replaced by Republicans in the 2010 landslide. IIRC, the Progressive House Caucus outnumbers the Blue Dog Caucus by 3 to 1 at this point.
She’s always had admirable control over the caucus, but it’s easier now that the majority of the Blue Dogs are gone.
Short Bus Bully
@RalfW:
This. Exactly.
House Dems should just focus on giving the finger and flinging poo in unison to anything Teh Boner does or says for the rest of his tenure.
LosGatosCA
@Mike:
They love the smell of nihilism in the morning.
And the afternoon and evening, too.
stickler
@Gretchen D: Well, as others have pointed out before me, this is one of the benefits (small though it might be) of the 2010 bloodbath: fewer limpwristed D-In-Name-Only Democrat Blue Dogs.
Their ranks have been well and truly winnowed.
RareSanity
How the hell can you punish, a freshman Congress person, with no status position and no dependence on your money train?
Boehner is in a no win situation. Don’t pass anything and shut the Government down? You lose. Compromise with Democrats and pass a bill to keep the Government running? You lose.
I guess he never figured that Speaker of the House was more than just the nicer office.
Califlander
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the Orange Speaker suggest to his caucus that he would strip people of their committee assignments if they voted “no?”
Betcha he doesn’t.
Betcha he doesn’t every try.
Spaghetti Lee
I’ve always thought that almost any Democrat, no matter their conservative tendencies, was better than a Republican. But is there some strategic value to having a caucus that’s been whittled down to people who, for the most part, believe in its mission, and can create a united front to that effect? Yes, there is. Quite a conundrum.
Oh, and ha ha, Boehner, kiss my ass. As others have said, this is what happens when you let the crazy people grab the steering wheel.
TenguPhule
Orange Dick doesn’t dare, unless he wants to find himself on a ballot for no confidence.
Pass the popcorn and make sure there are plenty of grenades within easy reach of conservative and teabagger alike.
Hilarity is about to ensue.
RareSanity
@TenguPhule:
On the eve of their greatest destructive victory, they are about to implode.
Finally, Democrats may witness the other guys snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
AA+ Bonds
This may also mean that the House is now actually unable to pass spending bills, any and all spending bills, because of the Republicans which would be a fine how de do considering that is the main reason the House exists
Yutsano
Schaden, meet Freude. Now go forth and multiply.
(haz popcorn!)
bago
@wag, eemom:
The statement was
A. Factual.
B. Timely.
C. Implicitly assigning responsibility.
D. Easily Accessible through a mass media market.
E. Three words long.
When being succinct, It’s always illustrative to see how people fill in the gaps.
I think I can only truly answer my quote with another quote:
Miller:
Otto:
Miller:
Weirdness like cheering execution numbers? Cheering the denial of health care?
SiubhanDuinne
@Yutsano:
First smile in three and a half hours. Thanks, Yutsy.
James E. Powell
@Mnemosyne:
The Blue Dogs in the House are gone—they were virtually all replaced by Republicans in the 2010 landslide.
I wonder, really, if the defeated blue dogs are happier now that they are no longer congress-creatures. More than any others, I hold them and their failure to support the party and the president’s programs as the main reason for the 2010 wipeout. Did they care? Or did they just move on to some corporate sinecure?
James E. Powell
On the other hand, if the president and Speaker Pelosi had done this on health care, we’d have had a public option.
Joey Maloney
I’m with Maddow on this one; Boehner is just Not Very Good At His Job.
debbie
Ohio Senate President Niehaus actually did this in the run-up to passing SB5. He may have gotten the bill passed, but he’s earned some powerful enemies down the road.
Rhoda
This is a huge opening for Democrats.
They should pull a McConnell and refuse to vote for anything the House Republicans put up until the Speaker agrees to a real vote on the American Jobs act. They have leverage now; the Republicans don’t want to be the cause of a government shutdown and if Democrats are holding out for a vote on a jobs bill I doubt the public will blame them for anything. They’ll wonder why Republicans, with their historic majorities, are refusing to allow a vote.
Shlemizel - was Alwhite
Jay-zuz – two bits of hopeful news coming on a single day. First I notices that threads at a non-political site are running strongly against the current Republican Party and now this.
If only the Dems could remain united, even if just mostly, and the Repubs could finally slit each others throats, even for just a little while. It would be like a warm spring day after an interminable winter.
I still think its too late to save us, this isn’t a miracle after all but at least there is a crack in the gloom.
Baud
@James E. Powell:
FTFY
Lojasmo
@LosGatosCA:
“I don’t care what you say about the tenets of national soshulizm, dude, at least it’s an ethos”*
*prolly replied to the wrong poster there
Ash Can
Not only is it significant, it’s vital to understanding how our government and American politics work. The “inside baseball” you’re referring to here isn’t something esoteric to be glossed over or something foreign that we can’t possibly understand or be interested in, it’s the very crux of Congressional dynamics. In other words, it’s not “inside baseball” in the least.
Mike
@RareSanity: Well, Boehner thought that by giving these teabaggers what they wanted early on, he could cash in his chits with them later. What he found out is that by letting the lunatics run the asylum early on, he pretty much ceded any control he might have had in the future. Remember that teabaggers are the greediest, most selfish scumbags on the face of the earth. You give them an inch, they will want a mile. They have no other loyalty than to themselves. Boehner is learning that too late.
schlemizel - was Alwhite
@James E. Powell:
I assume this is a rhetorical question not requiring the obvious answer. Has there been any member in the last 40 years that left & DIDN’T land in some cushy spot?
lol
@schlemizel – was Alwhite:
Plenty have gone back to their normal lives. They’re usually all members that lost one of their first couple re-elects and didn’t build enough rep/connections to be worth holding on to.
If you make it past that point though, then the post-Congress career options really open up, whether it’s lobbying/consulting in DC or back in your home state.
Nicole
So Boehner is in over his head, then.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Amanda in the South Bay: And this gets to the heart of it all, doesn’t it? When does Obama take that stand that everyone needs him to take? When no one gets hurt by it? When it’s totally pointless?
agrippa
My reaction is to let Boehner be Boehner. Those people were elected; let them try to legislate.
Perhaps the voters will take notice and send those people to private life.
Zandar
I have to argue bullshit on this one, Doug. I think Orange Julius knew exactly what he was doing when he “failed to control his caucus.” Just like the debt ceiling fight, he now has plausibly deniability about the TP and can say “Oh well, you’d better do what they want or they’ll shut the place down.”
Now he’ll say only steep, immediate austerity will be the only thing that can possibly pass the House before next week’s shutdown, and he’ll be right.
Monkey Business
The GOP keeps handing Democrats talking point after talking point. They could hammer these guys with the crap this Congress has done for a generation. And yet, if they manage to win next fall, it’ll be by razor thin margins.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So Boehner comes up limp again.
@Zandar:
How does Boehner negotiate when he has just shown he has no power. Boehner wasn’t able to even come threw in end with the Debt Cealing, he needed the Dems to get that pass the House.
EIGRP
Today, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle blamed the Democrats for the bill not passing:
“House rejects bill with disaster relief”
Democrats block the measure because they want more aid for hard-hit regions.
Riiight… the minority party by voting against it blocked the measure. It [would|could|should] not be the Republican’s fault.
Eric
Enhanced Voting Techniques
This is interesting. The Great Orange Menace is noting even the Tea Party Caucus is split on this one
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/22/1019192/-Chasing-Tea-Party-ghosts?via=blog_1#comments
In other words Boehner’s dream of doing it alone with the Republicans is impossible because the GOP is to fragmented.
JGabriel
Politico:
More Village bullshit. IIRC, Pelosi has always been very good at holding her caucus together. Senate Democrats may be a bit more fractious, but Democratic unity on the House side has been utterly not rare.
.
Original Lee
Even the local Fox News affiliate noticed and nipped a little piece out of the TP. Interesting to me: they emphasized that this bill was supposed to implement the deal that was cut earlier but the TPers held out for even more cuts. So now Boehner will have to negotiate with the Democrats to get the bill passed, which will mean MORE SPENDING than if the TPers had let the bill alone and voted fore it. The news anchor even compared the TPers to two-year-olds throwing a tantrum and acted all surprised that the TPers were trying to GUT the GOVERNMENT. Somebody must have some flood damage for which they need federal dollars in order to recover, ya think?