The legislative stasis of a midterm political year, combined with a Senate’s ridiculously short work week, has put most Congress-watchers to sleep. But something unusual is happening, and it should shake all conservatives out of their midterm-focused stupor.
In a Congress run by Republicans, Democrats are successfully controlling the action on the House and Senate floor.
Just last week, Democrats, aided by moderate Republicans, forced floor action to reverse one of President Trump’s signature deregulatory initiatives. In the House, the party of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and a group of moderate Republicans are only two signatures away from being able to do the same — this time, forcing what are likely to be successful votes on amnesty for illegal immigrants.
As any student of politics knows, congressional majorities control the content, pace, and consideration of bills and amendments that are allowed on the House and Senate floors. Indeed, this is a central locus of power for congressional leadership — the ability to decide what bills get considered, when, and for how long. If the majority doesn’t like a bill? It will simply never see the light of day.
Yet Democrats have successfully leveraged this authority for themselves while in the minority. This is a rare and significant turn of events that should shock Republican leadership into action.
Indeed, it is the very lack of a strong policy agenda from congressional Republicans, as well as the unbalanced treatment of their membership, that has led to a scenario in which moderate Republicans feel emboldened to join with Democrats to buck the majority’s agenda without fear of reprisal.
For their part, Democrats are fully aware of what they can get away with. In the Senate, in particular, Democrats have been obstructing the president’s nominees for months with little consequence, smearing the character of Trump’s nominees, as well as their religious faith — all with only minor public rebukes from Senate Republicans.
Likewise, moderate Republicans know they will not be slapped down for stepping out of line. Unlike the punishment meted out to conservatives for far lesser sins, moderates are free to vote with Democrats and openly flout their leadership.
It goes without saying that neither Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, nor Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, thought twice about handing Democrats a victory last week in the first step toward repealing Trump’s net neutrality policies.
Why would they?
When they joined Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in tanking Obamacare repeal in the Senate, there was no outcry from their leadership for demolishing one of their party’s signature campaign promises, nor any of the political retribution for which Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is infamous. Compare this to how Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was treated when he had the audacity to ask for a simple amendment vote. Or how Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, was excoriated when he tried for an Obamacare repeal vote in 2015.
In the House, moderate Republicans have openly ignored the public and private pleas from their leadership to abandon their amnesty plan, knowing full well there will be no consequence for doing so. Case in point, after a closed-door conference meeting in which Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., begged their members to abandon the strategy, two more Republicans went ahead and signed the discharge petition anyway. More have since followed.
Again, contrast this to what’s happened to conservatives who have similarly tried to buck their leadership. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., was stripped of his committee leadership post when he dared oppose leadership on a procedural vote. Likewise, other conservatives have lost fundraising opportunities and been removed from leadership roles for the offense of voting their own way.
Yet, what of Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., the leader of this amnesty strategy in the House? Speaker Ryan has openly campaigned for him. He’s personally close to Leader McCarthy. His legislative push, which will set up the Republican House to pass amnesty right before the midterm elections, continues to move ahead.
Double standard, much?
To be clear, it is entirely within the rights of congressmen and senators to use discharge petitions. In fact, there are compelling arguments that they should be used more, particularly when Republican leadership in the House and Senate lack both the will and a strategy to accomplish conservative policy goals.
The issue arises when prized procedural maneuvers are only reserved for moderate members and Democrats, while conservatives who seek similar ends are raked across the coals.
Rachel Bovard (@rachelbovard) is policy director of the Conservative Partnership Institute.
