CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Sept. 21, 2011 – 10:52 p.m.
Conservative Bloc Again Stumps Boehner & Co.
By Richard E. Cohen, CQ Staff
In what has become a familiar scenario, Speaker John A. Boehner faces another test of his ability to lead his conference on issues that require tempering the House GOP's hard-line fiscal conservatism.
To rebound from Wednesday's setback on a stopgap spending bill, Boehner and his leadership team will have to yield to Democrats on the funding of disaster relief or try to satisfy dissident Republicans, who want deeper across-the-board spending cuts.
The latter route would likely set up a confrontation with the Democrat-controlled Senate and raise the possibility of a government shutdown at the end of next week.
Facing a similar choice in late July, when conservatives balked at his debt limit proposal, Boehner bowed to GOP conservatives, although their demand for congressional endorsement of a balanced-budget constitutional amendment appeared to be a non-starter with Democrats. The House passed a new version of Boehner's bill, but the debt limit and deficit reduction stalemate was settled — and default averted —through negotiations with the White House.
Boehner and his leadership team pressed ahead with Wednesday's roll call vote on the continuing resolution (HR 2608) despite uncertainty about the outcome.
With the electronic tally board showing a majority in opposition to a short-term spending bill intended to keep the government running until mid-November, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., walked to the back of the chamber to see if he could persuade three leading Republican conservatives to switch their votes and support the measure.
After a short conversation, Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan made it clear that he was not bending to McCarthy's pleas, which were directed at the Ohio Republican and two members of the powerful group of conservatives he leads. Freshman firebrand Joe Walsh of Illinois and conservative stalwart Jason Chaffetz of Utah shook their heads no.
The decisive outcome, a 195-230 rejection of the measure, delivered a stunning and painful message. After nearly nine months in the majority, House GOP leaders still cannot count on their conference to work effectively as a unit.
Most evident is the difficult task Boehner faces in uniting a conference dominated by a conservative, tea party-backed faction.
Late Wednesday, Boehner was left with few options but to bend to conservative demands that spending be trimmed further. But that leaves in doubt how the House and Senate will agree on fiscal 2012 spending levels, either in the stopgap measure or an upcoming omnibus appropriations package.
And later in the year, leaders may have to try to steer through the House a bipartisan package recommended by the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.
First Outright Defeat
Wednesday's tally was the first clear roll call defeat for Republican leaders since they took control of the chamber in January. In part, Boehner's oft-touted refusal to use heavy-handed pressure tactics to sway votes left the door open for such an outcome.
The Speaker had problems Wednesday even with his own state delegation. Three other Ohio Republicans contributed to the defeat of the continuing resolution.
Jordan, who has repeatedly been an irritant to Boehner, was not the Speaker's only challenge. Ohio Reps. Steve Austria and Michael R. Turner — each of whom represents districts adjacent to the Speaker—also defected on the vote. Their decisions may have been driven in part by the state's redistricting map — which Boehner's political lieutenants played a key role in drafting. It puts Austria and Turner in a single district.
Endangered Republican lawmakers are particularly eager to appeal to the party's conservative base. Walsh and fellow freshman Randy Hultgren of Illinois, who have announced plans to run against each other in a newly redrawn district, both opposed the stopgap spending measure.
The 48 Republicans who voted against the bill included 18 freshman — many of whom received visits and support from Boehner and McCarthy during their campaigns last year. But the roughly 20 percent of freshmen who voted "no" was about the same as the rate of dissent in the GOP conference as a whole.
Wednesday's vote also suggested a lack of loyalty among some Republicans who had been granted important favors by Boehner. Among the dissenters were Jeff Miller of Florida, who took over this year as chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and Kenny Marchant of Texas, who was given a seat on the Ways and Means Committee this summer.
McCarthy was able to claim fleeting credit for convincing Dan Burton, R-Ind., to switch his vote and support the bill. But when it was clear the bill was headed for defeat, Burton switched back.
Unappealing Choices
The defeat left the GOP leadership with unappetizing alternatives. They could rewrite the spending bill to gain GOP votes, or they could reach out to Democrats by dropping a provision that would offset part of the cost of disaster relief spending. But Boehner can hardly hope to run the House successfully for very long by using Democratic votes to roll over tea party-backed conservatives.
In earlier votes on spending and fiscal policy, including the battle this spring over fiscal 2011 spending and the protracted August fight over increasing the debt ceiling, Boehner benefited from substantial support from Democrats and even President Obama. On each of those votes, there were enough GOP defections to leave Boehner on the losing end had the measures not drawn Democratic votes. But this time, especially with disaster aid in the mix, Democrats are not as ready to rescue the Speaker.
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