Murkowski Caves To Trump, Wants House To Kill the Bill For Her

Well, while it looked like we might see the Senate kill the monstrosity Trump wants to inflict on us all we needed for GOP Senators to stand up to him. We only got three. For different reasons Tillis and Paul were hard NO votes. The other two who might step up were Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. I feared only one of them would do so but was certain Collins would be the one to cave. Instead it was Murkowski (Murkowardski?) so J.D. Vance had to take a break from humping couches to come and break the tie. But the whole mess is headed back to the House. Incredibly, Murkowski is asking the HOUSE to do what she didn’t have the courage to do and vote no!

I’m not kidding, and no you haven’t been redirected to The Onion. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski voted for legislation she now wants the House to vote No on. She claims it’s because the Senate had/has more work to do on the thing. At least that’s what we learn in this article from Newsweek.  Maybe I’m missing something BUT if Thune knew he had four solid NO votes he could have kept the Senate working on the bill instead of bringing it up for a vote!  From where I sit it was only Trumpty’s artificial July 4 deadline (after blowing past the first, Memorial Day one) that had the Senate hard at work while the House members had gone home to press the flesh during July 4 week.

I saw earlier today Speaker Johnson is indeed calling the House back so they can vote tomorrow. We’ll have to wait and see how THAT goes because for various reasons groups of Johnson’s fellow GOPers flat-out reject some of what Senators had been working on. Remember, this started in the House and only passed by a single vote. Johnson’s margin in the House is more tenuous than Thune had in the Senate.

My point is that the House handed a godawful chunk of legislation to the Senate, who then made a bunch of changes to it. Many a House member has expressed their dismay.  So the House can either approve the Senate version (doubtful) or the two chambers will have to work out a compromise in conference committee. THEN each chamber has to vote on whether to accept THAT. I just don’t see Trumpty getting anything on his desk before the holiday. I don’t think he does either which is why he’s talking up something else. I wrote about it already, his claims of drenching an ER in his own blood after “being shot.”

The thing is, as I said if Murkowski had told Thune she was a hard NO there wouldn’t have been a vote.  The Senate could have found a way to go on July 4 recess and try again next week.  Time is not the friend of this bill so I think Schumer would have gladly gone along with adjourning for the holiday.  Still, we are where we are because Murkowski lost her nerve.  Senators think they are better than mere House members so perhaps there’s some arrogance at work here. Murkowski in effect telling House Republicans to ‘do her dirty work for her.’ However if you read the linked article it’s clear for all the talk about Medicaid, SNAP and energy programs for  her state Murkowski’s REAL reason for what she did is pure GOP conservative dogma – taxes. As in preserving the Trump 2017 tax cuts:

Despite her reservations, Murkowski said voting “no” would have killed the bill entirely. “There is a tax impact coming forward. That’s gonna hurt the people in my state,” she said, referencing the expiration of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. Her vote allowed the bill to advance, but she made clear she expects further revisions.

Yep. Tax cuts for the rich. THAT is holy to conservatives and while Murkowski might be considered moderate by current GOP standards she’s still old-school conservative at heart.  I actually think much of the harm this bill will do bothers her. Just not enough to allow tax increases on wealthy people.  So instead of helping kill the bill, by showing it simply had no chance of passing in any form she’s punted it over to the House. Hoping THEY will say no and give her and her fellow GOPers another crack at it.

Maybe the House will act as she hope..  The fireworks from some members of the House tomorrow should rival those we’ll see being shot over the Capitol Mall Friday night.  It could get real ugly real fast, hence my attempt to rename the BBB the ‘FUBBB.’ (F**king Ugly Bad Big Bill)  IF the House refuses to approve what the Senate passed over then it buys time for us to increase pressure on Republicans.

Think of it in terms of as delay being the next thing best to an acquittal for a criminal defendant. Sometimes so much time passes the prosecution is compromised. That’s something Trump has used to great advantage in his miserable, despicable life.  In this case delay could cause Congressional Republicans to lose enthusiasm for this whole damned thing. Time will tell but this week we have a real sh*t show coming up on Capitol Hill.

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