What’s The Surrender Caucus’ Plan For Dealing With Democrats?

The usual suspects are very, very concerned that the other usual suspects aren’t willing to roll over for the Democrats on Planned Parenthood.

I give you Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.

“Given the challenges and threats we face at home and abroad, I oppose risking a government shutdown, particularly when it appears there is no chance of achieving a successful result,” Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., wrote to [Ted Cruz] the GOP presidential hopeful from Texas. “Nevertheless, as I understand it, you have been circulating a letter to our colleagues asking them to oppose any government funding bill that continues to authorize funding for Planned Parenthood.”

Ayotte, who is one of the more vulnerable GOP incumbents on the ballot in 2016, makes clear in the letter that she concurs with Cruz on the disturbing nature of secret video recordings about Planned Parenthood, but she offers serious doubts about his tactics.

“How do we get 60 votes? And if for some reason there were 60 votes, how do we get 67 votes in the Senate to overcome a Presidential veto?” Ayotte asks in the missive sent Thursday, which was first obtained by New Hampshire’s influential ABC affiliate WMUR.

Yes, well, that’s a very important question if your main concern is getting Kelly Ayotte re-elected. If however you have greater concerns about the country than reelecting her, it’s the wrong question.

The correct question for Ayotte and her ilk is, what are you willing to do to break the Democrats ability to control the agenda of the United States Congress so long as they can muster 41 votes?

Team GOP will tell you, “if you want anything done you need to elect a Republican president”. Here’s the thing…imagine that everything was exactly the same right now with the exception that say, Marco “Amnesty” Rubio is the president. The Senate Democrats will still have 41 votes in the Senate, so they’d still be able to filibuster any effort to defund Planned Parenthood (or anything else conservatives want done). And of course, they’d be joined by the likes of Mark Kirk and Susan Collins who are siding with the Democrats now.

Do you imagine the Democrats will suddenly be in a bipartisan mood if Rubio or any Republican is elected next year? Or do you think they will gum up the works as they have been in the hopes of increasing their numbers come the 2018 mid-terms?

Yeah.

Well, I’m sure if the GOP wins the presidency the media will stop the “heads Democrats win, tails Republicans lose” coverage of shutdowns.

Yes, I’m sure that’s what will happen.

So what’s the GOP going to do about this? The way things are now, all the Democrats ever need is 41 Senate votes and they will have veto power over things like defunding Planned Parenthood or any other issue. It's a pretty neat trick considering the GOP can't seem to do that with control of the House and over 41 Senate votes or even with the House and the Senate.

Unless the GOP starts fighting now, on things like Planned Parenthood which energize Republican voters, and make the Democrats pay a price for filibustering everything, it doesn’t matter what a GOP President wants to do. They will be held hostage to the Democrats and the inevitable turn-coat Republicans who join them.

So either pick this fight and make the Democrats leery of using the filibuster, end it entirely (which is what I’d do), they could go back to the "talking filibuster" as it existed back in the 60s or stop the charade that there’s ever going to be enough Republican votes, presidents or Supreme Court justices to pass anything and the Democrats win no matter what.

posted by DrewM. at 09:16 AM

| Access Comments