Does anyone remember when Mitch McConnell filibustered his own bill? It happened last December. He offered a bill that would have given the president the authority to raise the debt ceiling, subject only to a two-thirds majority override in Congress. McConnell was trying to make the Democrats filibuster, but they didn’t. Harry Reid offered to have an immediate vote on the idea.
And then we had the delicious spectacle of McConnell objecting to a vote on the bill that he had just proposed. That’s exactly what the House of Representatives is doing with the bill they just passed to keep the government open until December 15th. They passed it and sent it to Harry Reid. And now they expect Republican senators to filibuster it.
It’s not uncommon to ask for a vote that you know will not pass just to put some lawmakers on the spot and make them cast a vote that can be used against them later. It’s annoying trollish behavior, but both parties do it and it is a staple of American politics. What’s different is proposing or passing legislation and then objecting to that legislation getting consideration in the Senate. That takes annoying trollish behavior to a new unprecedented level.
I doubt the Republican senators will go along with it, but you never know with these folks. If they do prevent Harry Reid from considering their bill, they’ll have to explain why they passed it in the first place. It would result in a government shutdown and when people started pointing the finger of blame, it wouldn’t stick to the Democrats. The House would argue that they passed something and the Senate didn’t. But that’s just one more reason why Senate Republicans don’t have an incentive to go along with the plan.
At this point, what we’re watching is the House Republicans and the Senate Republicans having a fight where they each want the other to get the blame for either funding ObamaCare or shutting down the government, or both. And Ted Cruz is basically taking the House’s side even though he is a senator, and even though the House hates him for it.
The Insane has truly arrived.
