The Republicans have won solid majorities in both the House and the Senate. This means they should be able to pass any legislation they want, right?
Wrong. Not when the Republican leadership in Congress doesn’t have the courage to challenge the threat of a presidential veto.
We’ve seen the Republicans cave before. And it looks like it’s going to happen again, as we get down to a deadline over funding the federal government.
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Here’s the deal: The new fiscal year for the government starts on October 1, which means that a spending bill will have to be passed by Congress before then or the government will run out of money to spend. Wouldn’t that be a shame?
Conservatives in Congress, outraged by videos showing Planned Parenthood agreeing to sell parts from aborted babies to researchers, have vowed to end federal funding for the organization. The group, which is the largest provider of abortions in the United States, receives more than $500 million in federal funds each year.
President Obama has vowed to veto any spending bill that reduces funding for Planned Parenthood. In fact, the president has demanded that Congress eliminate the spending caps that were imposed by sequestration four years ago. He wants federal spending increased across the board, for both the military and domestic issues. Obama loves to talk about increasing federal “investments.” Here’s how he put it a few days ago:
We could instead invest in working families, invest in our military readiness, invest in our schools, rebuild our roads, rebuild our ports, rebuilt our airports, put people back to work right now. I’ll that budget. I’m ready to work with them.
Sure, he’s ready to work with Congress — as long as it gives him everything it wants. If it won’t approve the money he’s demanding, he’s made it perfectly clear that he’s willing to force another government shutdown.
And why not? He knows that the mainstream media will make sure the Republicans get the blame. In fact, a Quinnipiac poll taken at the end of the August found that 41 percent of voters would blame Republicans if a shutdown occurs. Only 33 percent would blame Democrats, even if Obama vetoed a spending bill that Congress passed.
The threat of a shutdown has Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) quaking in their boots. Boehner has even said that in order to overcome conservative opposition, he may cut a deal with the Democrats to get a spending bill passed in the House.
Wouldn’t that be disgusting? Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the Democrats’ leader in the House, is licking her jobs over the terms she can demand to give Boehner enough votes to get a spending bill passed.
I hope the Republicans will have the guts to keep their promises and pass a spending bill that defunds Planned Parenthood — and that keeps other reductions in federal spending in place. After all, that’s what the voters expected when they voted to give the Republicans a majority in both the House and the Senate.
Sadly, that sort of courage seems to be in very short supply these days.
We’re just a few days away from the end of the current fiscal year. Is there any chance that Republican leaders will grow a backbone — or maybe some cojones — between now and then? Frankly, I doubt it.
Until next time, keep some powder dry.
Chip Wood was the first news editor of The Review of the News and also wrote for American Opinion, our two predecessor publications. He is now the geopolitical editor of Personal Liberty Digest. This article first appeared on PersonalLiberty.com and has been reprinted with permission.
