Republicans vote in lockstep and Democrats do not. Republicans vote for terrible bills that they know are terrible, because that is what advances their overall cause.
Republican centrists voted for the House GOP proposal despite their misgivings.
[Sen. Susan] Collins [R-ME] told The New York Times Tuesday: “There are a lot of cuts that I think are ill-advised. There are programs eliminated halfway during the year rather than phased out in an orderly fashion.”
Why vote for a bill that will never become law but which includes massive cuts in all kinds of popular programs? That’s the definition of creating political difficulty for yourself. The answer may lie in the pressure applied by organizations like the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity, and their Frankenstein monster, the Tea Party. Susan Collins has more to fear from them than the general electorate.
Eleven Democrats voted against Harry Reid’s budget proposal. Carl Levin and Bernie Sanders voted against it because it doesn’t raise enough revenue to help reduce the budget deficit, instead relying almost exclusively on spending cuts. But the rest of the nay-sayers voted against it because they didn’t want to vote for a bill that cut less than will actually be cut in the end. In other words, they’re afraid. But they’re not afraid of us, the rank-and-file Democrats who vote in primaries. They’re afraid of all the corporate money that will be used to defeat them.
It sure is nice being the party of BIG MONEY.
