A government spending bill that was already a big win for Democrats got even bigger as 103 House Republicans split with their party and voted against the legislation.
The conservative Washington Examiner described the vote, “The bill passed 309-118, in a vote that saw 103 Republican oppose the measure. Republicans were almost split in half on the vote, as just 132 GOP lawmakers voted for it, along with 178 Democrats. That opposition from Republicans reflects anger over how the bill was negotiated, which resulted in a final product that didn’t include money for President Trump’s border wall, and included funding for other Democratic priorities. Many Republicans groused that the bill was written as if Republicans weren’t in charge of the House, Senate and White House.”
The dirty secret is that many Republicans don’t want to fund Trump’s wall, but on every other issue from funding for Planned Parenthood to increased funding for the National Institutes of Health, Democrats won.
House Republicans on the far right still don’t understand that they can’t unilaterally govern. They may hold the majority, but they need the help of moderate Republicans to get legislation passed.
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Democrats have figured out what President Obama already knew. Republicans are deeply divided on spending priorities. The funding bill gave Congressional Democrats a crash course on how to use the divides within the GOP to stall and block Trump’s agenda.
Once the White House figured out that they had lost on the government funding deal, Trump began tweeting about the need for a government shutdown. Democrats have something that Republicans lack. The Democrats are unified. Democrats in Congress used their unity to crush Trump’s agenda and drive the wedge deeper into the Republican Party.
The vote in the House demonstrated that Republicans might have a majority, but Democrats have the coherent strategy needed to stifle their agenda.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
