Within days, maybe within hours, the Republican surrender on the budget battle will be complete. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is going to push through a so-called “clean” continuing resolution to fund the government for at least a couple more months.
This dirty deal is being called “clean” because it won’t impose any of the conditions that conservatives have been demanding. It won’t defund Planned Parenthood; it won’t oppose the president’s deal with Iran; it won’t make any serious cuts in federal spending. Heck, it won’t even oppose Obamacare or Barack Obama’s amnesty program.
So what will it do? Two things that the weak-kneed Republican leadership has been seeking:
- First, it will enable them to buy time to put together a long-term budget bill that the Democrats will support. Word from Washington is that a compromise is in the works for a bill that will fund the government into 2017. Please note that this would get them past the all-important 2016 elections.
- Second, it will eliminate any possibility of giving Obama an excuse to shut down the government — something the Republican compromisers say could cost Republicans the presidency next year.
Remember the old adage, “It is better to apologize than to ask permission.” That seems to be the attitude of McConnell and his cohorts. They want to tell voters that “this is the best deal we could get,” rather than risk any possibility of Obama vetoing a budget and leading to even a temporary partial shutdown of the government.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has been leading the fight in the Senate to defund Planned Parenthood, says that the Republican leadership has “preemptively surrendered” on the issue.
“Republican leadership has said we will never, ever, ever shut down the government,” Cruz stated, “and suddenly President Obama understands the easy key to winning every battle. He simply has to utter the word ‘shutdown,’ and Republican leadership runs to the hills.”
Sad, but true.
Is it any wonder the Republican base is furious at the lack of backbone it sees from the politicians in Washington?
Instead of always seeking a compromise that’s acceptable to Democrats, it’s high time for the Republicans to use their majorities in both the House and the Senate to pass bills that deliver on the promises they made to us. After all, that’s why we elected them in the first place!
Use the power of the purse to defund the left! Vote against a measure that would deliver $150 billion to Iraq — the major state sponsor of terrorism in the Middle East. Start standing for the principles that you constantly espouse, but so seldom back with legislation. Rather than being afraid of a presidential veto, welcome it!
This sort of political courage would electrify the base. It would promote the sort of passion and purpose that wins elections.
Conservatives are sick to death of constantly being told that we are the ones who must compromise, that a strong stand on principle will only lead to defeat at the polls.
Just the opposite is true! In fact, even after the last government shutdown, Republicans expanded their majority in the House. In 2014, despite all sorts of dire predictions, they won a majority in the Senate, too. But you’d never know it from the way they’re voting now.
Is it any wonder that the three people at the top of the polls in the Republican race for the presidency have never held elective office before? Voters want a change. They want to see some intestinal fortitude in their lawmakers.
In other words, it’s time for Republicans in Congress to demonstrate some guts. If they won’t, we’d better get some replacements who will.
Until next time, keep some powder dry.
–Chip Wood
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