Lawmaker News

“Americans are screaming at the top of their lungs to STOP, and yet Democrats here in Washington continue to forge ahead. Why? Because they’re not listening.

”Republicans have been listening to the American people, and we’re going to continue to listen to the American people. But right now, we need Americans to stand with us to make sure that this bill never, ever, ever becomes law.” — then-House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) on March 16, 2010
 
“For all those who supported the health law, it’s an opportunity to re-evaluate your vote. To listen to your constituents who are desperately trying to get your attention. You can say, ‘Perhaps this was a mistake. We can do this better.’ Or you can continue to dismiss the majority of the people in this country as not knowing what they’re talking about." — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), The Hill, Feb. 1, 2011

As far as winning messages go, the national Republicans had one in 2010: It's jobs, stupid.

Well, it wasn’t that specifically, but they did hammer the president and the Democrats in Congress for not focusing on the economy and instead focusing on healthcare reform for America. They were relentless and they were disciplined and as a result they engineered a sweeping election that returned them to the majority in the House and closer than anyone predicted to a majority in the Senate.

But something happened on the way to moving to the larger office suites in the Capitol complex and inviting an army of Washington lobbyists back through the revolving door to take positions of senior leadership: They lost their way.

The Republican attempt to destroy the highly popular Medicare program could defeat 30 or more Republican House members and lead to Democrats regaining control of the lower chamber.

The Republican attack on Medicare is a textbook case of Republicans clutching the third rail with both hands, escalating the blunders that have cost them dearly in elections before and alienating the voters with the kind of political theology and extremism that voters do not want and will not tolerate.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is a good and sincere man, but here is why his Medicare policy is radical and extreme.

Before the rooster crows a hundred more times, with liberal Democrats and Tea Party Republicans sharing outrage about various spending bills, Nancy Pelosi might be called upon to deliver enough Democratic votes to avoid a fiscal disaster.

If the pending "spending compromise" were decided by secret voting in the House of Representatives, it would probably be defeated.

Do not understimate the liberal outrage toward the direction of the Obama administration.

Do not underestimate the ideological rigidity of many Republican members of the House who could be very willing to precipitate a crisis and potentially a crash by voting against major bills, including the debt-ceiling extension.

When the budget debate began, the Democrat position was to freeze spending at current levels. The House Republican Appropriations Committee came forward with a “bold” proposal to cut $33 billion in real spending from the budget.

Speaker Boehner then listened to his members and sent the appropriators back to the drawing board with instructions to find more cuts.

After leading a virtually unprecedented debate and allowing dozens of spending-cut amendments on the floor to be voted upon, Boehner’s House passed a bill to fund the government for the rest of the year with $61 billion in real spending cuts.

In light of Harry Reid’s apparent decision not to even try to pass legislation through the Senate that would keep the government open, it seemed like an ideal time to reveal:

Top 10 Reasons Why Harry Reid Wants a Federal Government Shutdown (with apologies to a certain over-the-hill late-night talk-show host)

10: President Obama doesn’ t have time to campaign, vacation, golf and govern — something had to go

9: Wants to find out who are the 800,000 nonessential federal government employees before making cuts

8: Needs more free time to read cowboy poetry

7: Get those stinky tourists out of the Capitol Visitor Center

What is happening today is profound. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is waging a determined battle on behalf of American women who are under attack from Republicans on a long list of issues that deeply concern tens of millions of women.

In a recent column in The Hill I suggested that women are going to play a potentially decisive role in 2012. The battle is escalated today, with Republicans battling against issues of concern to a majority of women, and Harry Reid battling for them.

I am proud of Reid for leading this battle, and warn Republicans that if they shut down the government over matters important to women, a majority of voters in America, who are women, will not forgive Republicans for a very long time.

It’s been a long and hard week for embattled House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). Caught between a rock and a hard place and negotiating against his political best interests to kowtow to the extremists in his party who are determined to shut down the government, Boehner has allowed the budget debate to move from spending cuts to extreme policy riders that have little to do with budgeting.

Negotiations have stalled over policy riders regarding “women’s health and clean air,” says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). This is problematic for Boehner. He’s trying to achieve historic spending cuts and avert a government shutdown — having told his members that “Democrats will win” if the government closes its doors. Yet he can’t deter the extremists from insisting on including extreme policy riders to block air pollution standards and other items in the CR.

I first got a chance to meet John Boehner when he came to the Congress in 1991. He entered the Congress with a bang, teaming up with the so-called “Gang of Seven,” new Republican members who had enough of the rot that then permeated the institution. 

I worked for Bob Michel back then, and Michel was the establishment. Boehner was trying to shake up the establishment. Now, Boehner is the establishment, and a bunch of new Tea Party members are trying to do the same things to Boehner that he tried to do to Michel. 

Boehner was a rabble-rouser, but he was also a team player, and when Bill Clinton became president in 1993, Boehner joined the Theme Team, a Michel creation that used one-minute speeches to counter the Clinton message machine. 

Headlines blare that Harry Reid expects a shutdown, while John Boehner works to push through his fourth bill to fund the federal government through the House of Representatives.

What is Reid’s hangup?

The House of Representatives wants to end the funding of ObamaCare, and Harry Reid doesn’t.

Ultimately, Harry Reid is making a decision to shut down the federal government in order to continue funding a law that has been found to be unconstitutional in the federal courts, rather than ceasing its funding until after the Supreme Court decides the case.