For all the spin that Republicans are doing fine — they’re in control, have an agenda, know how to govern, etc. — sometimes reality, no matter how inconvenient, has a way of making it to the surface.
House Republican leaders were forced to abruptly pull their $54 billion budget-cutting bill off the House floor yesterday, amid growing dissension in Republican ranks over spending priorities, taxes, oil exploration and the reach of government.
A battle between House Republican conservatives and moderates over energy policy and federal anti-poverty and education programs left GOP leaders without enough votes to pass a budget measure they had framed as one of the most important pieces of legislation in years. Across the Capitol, a moderate GOP revolt in the Senate Finance Committee forced Republicans to postpone action on a bill to extend some of President Bush’s most contentious tax cuts.
The twin setbacks added to growing signs that the Republican Party’s typically lock-step discipline is cracking under the weight of Bush’s plummeting approval ratings, Tuesday’s electoral defeats and the increasing discontent of the American electorate. After five years of remarkable unity under Bush’s gaze, divisions between Republican moderates and conservatives are threatening to paralyze the party.
“The fractures were always there. The difference was the White House was always able to hold them in line because of perceived power,” said Tony Fabrizio, a Republican pollster. “After Tuesday’s election, it’s ‘Why are we following these guys? They’re taking us off the cliff.’ “
Yesterday was a complete debacle for the entire party. Centrist Republicans, many of whom are in competitive districts and are worried about re-election, were asked to go along with over $50 billion in cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, agriculture subsidies, student loans, and a host of other programs. They wouldn’t. Simultaneously, far-right Republicans were asked to give up on drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. They wouldn’t either.
It’s not just the House. The Senate Finance Committee practically collapsed yesterday when Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) joined Dems in blocking the extension of Bush’s capital gains tax cuts. When the committee tried to pass a tax package without the cuts, conservatives balked.
The result is a Republican caucus that is imploding before our very eyes.
To be sure, everyone will regroup and start this over again next week, but it’s not likely to get better. Both sides — conservative Republicans and less-conservative Republicans — are already vowing to dig in.
The less-conservative lawmakers are arguing they’re not going to cave…
While the chamber was immobilized and GOP leaders pleaded for votes, the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership gathered at the Capitol City Club to claim responsibility for the chaos. The group, often ignored, was not quite ready for the crush of reporters: There were problems with the microphone, and the group’s banner was draped clumsily over a bookcase.
The ringleader, Rep. Charles Bass (R-N.H.), acknowledged that “sometimes we can’t even agree what day of the week it is.” But not this time. “We will not waver,” he promised. Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest (R-Md.) seconded the defiance. “We will hold the line on this,” he vowed. “I think this is the dawning of a new day.”
Moderates were raging. Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) took the microphone. “They know very well what our position is, and it won’t change,” he said of party leaders.
…while the more conservative ones are equally defiant.
Republican Study Committee (RSC) Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN) and RSC Budget and Spending Taskforce Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) issued the following joint statement [yesterday]:
“House conservatives are profoundly disappointed that Congress did not vote on Speaker Hastert’s plan to put our fiscal house in order. We remain determined to offset the cost of Hurricane Katrina with more than $50 billion in savings. The American people long to see this Republican Majority apply the principles of limited government and fiscal discipline to the challenges facing our federal budget. We urge our colleagues to live up to the ideals of our party and our principles by supporting the Deficit Reduction Act and call on Congressional Leadership to schedule the bill for immediate consideration.”
All the while, both sides are looking across the aisle and asking, “Why are all those Democrats smiling?”