Profiles in congressional cowardice
In the days leading up to House passage of Republicans’ sweeping policy bill carrying President Trump’s agenda, members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus were unsparing in their criticism of the measure.
“That’s not fiscal responsibility. It’s not what we agreed to,” lawmakers in the caucus said in a statement after the Senate passed its version earlier this week with several major changes. “Republicans,” they added, “must do better.”
Representative Chip Roy, Republican of Texas and one of the most vocal fiscal hawks in Congress, fired off a series of posts outlining what he said were the seemingly endless list of problems with the bill.
“Increases deficits and violates the terms of the budget deal,” he wrote.
Representative Keith Self of Texas called it “morally and fiscally bankrupt.”
In the end, all of them voted for the bill, after an hourslong revolt that stretched from Wednesday night into early Thursday morning and ground the House floor to a halt. The legislation was unchanged, and while those who switched their positions to embrace it alluded to deals they had cut with Mr. Trump to address their concerns, it was not clear what, if any, commitments had been made or whether any would be fulfilled. [Continue reading…]
When the Republican-controlled Senate passed the disastrous megabill on Tuesday, the deciding vote came from Sen. Lisa Murkowski. The Alaskan lawmaker, who has long claimed to be a moderate, got over the finish line the bill for President Donald Trump’s priorities, which would send billions of dollars to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, extend tax cuts for the wealthy, kick large abortion providers out of the Medicaid program, and knock millions of low-income people off their health insurance.
Murkowski cast this vote just a week after she suggested in a podcast interview that she’d consider becoming an independent and caucusing with Senate Democrats. She cast this vote, which could shutter nearly 200 Planned Parenthood clinics, after repeatedly painting herself as “pro choice.” She cast this vote after Planned Parenthood called the bill a “backdoor abortion ban” and said it could eliminate one in four abortion providers nationwide.
Oh, but pity the poor senator: “I struggled mightily with the impact on the most vulnerable in this country when you look to Medicaid and SNAP,” Murkowski told reporters. In another interview, with NBC News’ Ryan Nobles, she said, “Do I like this bill? No.”
She added, however, that she voted to pass it because otherwise Trump’s 2017 tax cuts would expire, which would hurt people in Alaska. “I had to look on balance, because the people in my state are the ones that I put first. We do not have a perfect bill by any stretch of the imagination,” Murkowski said. “My hope is that the House is going to look at this and recognize that we’re not there yet.”
But these were empty words, even before the House signaled it would not change the bill: Murkowski herself could have forced changes to the bill by refusing to vote for it. She already had negotiated concessions for Alaskans, like a tax deduction for whaling boat captains, and exceptions to work requirements for SNAP. But then she gave up her leverage and approved a bill that subjects people in other states to the harms she worried about. [Continue reading…]