In one sense, a prolonged debate about an appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security and the rules of the Senate doesn’t seem very interesting. But the silver lining here is the way that it really shines a light on the Republicans’ Reality Detachment Syndrome.
What will it take to get Republicans who don’t work in the Senate to understand that the Senate needs 60 votes to pass legislation? It’s not like the last four years haven’t been almost entirely gridlocked do to Mitch McConnell’s exploitation of this requirement.
What was it that Upton Sinclair said about it being hard to convince a man of something if his job requires him not to understand it? Yeah, pretty much.
Earlier this month, Freshman Republican Senators Cory Gardner of Colorado and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia made a valiant effort to that end. “They explained to us how the Senate process works, and we were glad to have some of our former colleagues do that,” Representative Bradley Byrne of Alabama told the Washington Post. “From this House member’s perspective, and I think that I reflect the vast majority of the members of our conference,” Byrne added, “the Senate needs to do its job. Period.”
The lesson didn’t go well. To do its job (with or without a period) the Senate majority will need 60 votes, and the House legislation stands little prospect of attracting more than 54. “Sooner or later, we’re going to have to accept reality,” Representative Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania told the New York Times. Dent is one of the Republican Conference’s last moderates. In the House these days, that means you understand that 54 is not the same as 60.
Paraphrasing Tina Turner, “What’s reality got to do with it?”
Not to brag, but here in the Mid-Atlantic, our Republicans are more Wall Street and less Wal-Mart parking lot, so they actually have maintained a weak grasp on the string back to sanity.
“If I have to vote against Republicans, I will,” said Long Island U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.). “If I have to vote against the Republican leadership, I will. I’m not going to see another 9/11.”
…King told [CBS2’s Marcia] Kramer that Republicans from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania plan to meet house leadership Tuesday night to demand a vote on the bill.
He said he has enough Republicans willing to join with the Democrats to pass the bill. The big worry is that the leaders will keep the bill bottled up so it doesn’t reach the floor.
It’s probably never a good idea to schedule an appointment with John Boehner at night. He gets too deep in his cups to remember nocturnal conversations in the morning. Besides, the Republican Caucus-That-Can-Count isn’t big enough to matter.
