Self-serving Republicans gave Democrats cap and trade victory
By: Noel Sheppard
OpEd Contributor
July 1, 2009
They unanimously voted with their entire party against President Obama's stimulus bill in February, and did so again in April opposing the President's debt-laden 2010 budget. Yet these eight Republican House members broke ranks on Friday, awarding victory to the Democrats in narrowly passing the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES).
For the record, their names are Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), Rep. Mark Steven Kirk (R-IL), Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Rep. John McHugh (R-NY), and Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA).
With a final vote of 219 to 212, they could have buried this bill while saving Americans from dramatically higher energy prices, as well as the certain elimination of many manufacturing jobs. Instead, they voted largely for personal political reasons.
According to Ron Williams of Delaware's News Journal, Castle is likely to run for Vice President Joe Biden's former Senate seat now held by Ted Kaufman who is stepping down in 2010. Kirk apparently is considering a challenge for Obama's vacated Senate seat currently held by the controversy-ridden Roland Burris. It's not hard to speculate that both of these Republicans felt a no vote on Friday could have hindered their Senate ambitions.
As for the others, all but Smith represent districts that Obama won in November. Many observers, including Congressional Quarterly's Greg Giroux, believe this might have impacted their decisions.
Maybe their advisors should have counseled them to use the stimulus and/or budget votes for future political positioning rather than this one. After all, the stimulus passed 246 to 183, and the budget was approved 233 to 196. As such, those votes were far less consequential as both measures would have passed without them.
If the eight joined the GOP to vote as a unanimous block, the bill's failure would have been blamed on the 44 dissenting Democrats. ACES was already in trouble with many Blue Dogs, and still faces even greater difficulty in the Senate where passage at this time seems unlikely.
The best thing for Republicans in Obama-supporting districts would be to break the President's string of legislative victories and start saddling him with highly-publicized losses. With healthcare reform apparently losing moderate Democratic support thanks to the price tag, an ACES defeat Friday could have given Republicans some much-needed momentum heading into this next crucial legislative battle.
Republicans might still win this battle when ACES moves to a more global warming skeptical Senate in September. But a victory before the Fourth of July recess could have been just the tonic necessary for the resuscitation of the currently not so Grand Old Party.
What the party certainly didn't need was a group of opportunistic congressmen snatching defeat from the jaws of a crucial victory.
Noel Sheppard is associate editor of the Media Research Center's NewsBusters.org.
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