One of the great ironies of 2016 is that many of those who are most angry at the Republican Party for failing to appropriately stymie President Obama ardently support a man who backs a large segment of Obama’s agenda. But the rage against the GOP is fully understandable – every election cycle, the GOP promises to change the pork-barrel spending, the insider baseball, the corruption, and to fight back against the Democrats’ agenda. And every election cycle, the GOP comes up wildly short of their big promises.
The latest iteration of this pattern comes courtesy of those firebrand stalwarts Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Ryan came into office promising no more trillion-dollar omnibus packages; instead, he pledged to pass what he called “minibus” packages, with bills separated by department.
That ain’t gonna happen.
According to The Hill today, “rank-and-file Republicans, from the conservative House Freedom Caucus to the moderate Tuesday Group, say the strategy to break up the spending bill into ‘minibus’ packages is wishful thinking.” Why? Because Democrats want to hold the entire government hostage. Rep. Xavier Becerra (R-CA) explains, “They’re hoping, by doing these so-called minibuses, that some…will ride through the finish line, and they’ll get funded, and then what they’ll do is they’ll leave the…things they don’t like behind, and let those things shut down.”
Yes, that is indeed the goal of not wrapping up all government spending in a bow. And yes, Democrats know it. Which is why Democrats have an advantage: Republicans, out of pure and abject fear, oppose shutting down the government more than Democrats do. Republicans could put up a series of bills, and pass them or force a Democratic filibuster. Instead, they refuse to do so, worried that they’ll be blamed if Democrats filibuster or veto everything.
But that’s the point of having a Republican Congress, as Ted Cruz once tried to say about stopping Obamacare and executive amnesty funding. If you will never allow a government program to go unfunded, you have no leverage. Republicans, because they’re weak-kneed, think that they have the most leverage if they roll the entire government into a ball and then dare Democrats to shut down the entire government over small ancillary issues. That’s why Republicans “trim” around the edges rather than making deep cuts.
Republicans don’t understand the basic political math, however: if you’re going to be blamed for shutting down the government, make the issues specific and granular. Make the Democrats shut down every department individually over stupid issues, rather than irritating Americans over tiny issues vs. an entire government shutdown. Nobody cares if the Department of Energy shuts down. Everybody cares if the entire government shuts down.
Instead, Republicans will cave. They always cave. And that makes Republicans Hulk-angry, as it should.
Source: The Daily Wire
