It has passed virtually unnoticed, but on Sean Hannity’s show last night, Donald Trump made an important point that might resonate in the weeks to come: He called on Republican leaders to use the power of the purse — i.e., a government funding fight — to block Syrian refugees from entering the United States.
This suggests that we may see a rerun of a familiar script: Republican leaders vow to block an Obama initiative, but ultimately end up falling short, either on the merits or because they don’t have any means of blocking it, disappointing GOP voters who have been riled up into expecting success.
Here’s the exchange:
HANNITY: The Republicans in Congress hold the House and the Senate….They have the power of the purse. Would you urge them to use that power and defund the president’s efforts to take in these Syrian refugees?
TRUMP: I certainly would….Now we have the House and the Senate. Nothing’s happened. It’s the same exact story in a certain way with all of his executive orders. Obama’s always doing better….I am more disappointed in the Republicans than in the Democrats. At least the Democrats, we know where they’re coming from. The Republicans have done nothing.
Trump make two points here: First, that any failure by Republicans to block the Syrian refugees from entering will constitute another failure to block Obama. And second, that Republicans must use upcoming government funding battles to block him in this particular case.
It’s unclear what Republican leaders can do to stop the refugee program, as Dem Rep. Adam Schiff has explained. All indications are that House Speaker Paul Ryan does not want this to get caught up in a government funding fight. It’s also unclear whether GOP leaders actually want to stop it. Paul Ryan has called for a “pause,” and Republican leaders are going to vote on some sort of legislation this week, but until we see it, we won’t know exactly what their intentions are. They may vote for something that merely stiffens oversight, which could actually be done in a way that represents constructive cooperation with Obama and Democrats, but does not halt the program in any meaningful sense.
But will GOP base voters really go for such a squishy solution? Politico reports today that GOP leaders are already feeling pressure from the Republican rank and file to be seen acting decisively:
GOP leaders in both chambers are under pressure from their rank and file to act on the refugee situation, and that pressure will likely not let up — especially as Congress inches closer to a Dec. 11 deadline to pass a spending bill that’s already been a ripe target for policy riders. “There’s a lot of interest in it,” said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the third-ranking Senate Republican. “A lot of our members want to see it addressed.”
GOP leaders have left open a must-pass spending bill as an option to attach policy changes that would enact tougher oversight of the resettlement program. A growing number of GOP lawmakers are pushing leadership to be more aggressive; 55 House Republicans have signed a letter led by Rep. Brian Babin of Texas demanding a rider in the Dec. 11 spending bill that would strip funding for the Obama administration’s plans to accept 10,000 more refugees from Syria.
Trump’s broadside suggests that the pressure could indeed intensify on GOP leaders to go a lot farther in blocking the program than they may want to — including using government funding as leverage, which could lead to a shutdown. Ted Cruz has also been apparently laying the groundwork to accuse GOP leaders of being soft on Syrian refugees, by proposing a ban on Muslim refugees in particular, which GOP leaders won’t go for.
(By the way, as an aside, keep an eye on how Congressional Democrats handle this. Some of them may prove skittish enough to side with those calling for a meaningful pause in the program. But that’s for a future post.)
I doubt GOP leaders will allow the party to get drawn into a government shutdown fight over calls to ban Syrian refugees. But this may end up being another area where we see a lot of anger and disappointment on the right over the failure of GOP leaders to “stop Obama,” and a cynical effort to stoke and profit off of the same by certain GOP presidential candidates.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...yrian-refugees-than-squishy-gop-leaders-will/
This suggests that we may see a rerun of a familiar script: Republican leaders vow to block an Obama initiative, but ultimately end up falling short, either on the merits or because they don’t have any means of blocking it, disappointing GOP voters who have been riled up into expecting success.
Here’s the exchange:
HANNITY: The Republicans in Congress hold the House and the Senate….They have the power of the purse. Would you urge them to use that power and defund the president’s efforts to take in these Syrian refugees?
TRUMP: I certainly would….Now we have the House and the Senate. Nothing’s happened. It’s the same exact story in a certain way with all of his executive orders. Obama’s always doing better….I am more disappointed in the Republicans than in the Democrats. At least the Democrats, we know where they’re coming from. The Republicans have done nothing.
Trump make two points here: First, that any failure by Republicans to block the Syrian refugees from entering will constitute another failure to block Obama. And second, that Republicans must use upcoming government funding battles to block him in this particular case.
It’s unclear what Republican leaders can do to stop the refugee program, as Dem Rep. Adam Schiff has explained. All indications are that House Speaker Paul Ryan does not want this to get caught up in a government funding fight. It’s also unclear whether GOP leaders actually want to stop it. Paul Ryan has called for a “pause,” and Republican leaders are going to vote on some sort of legislation this week, but until we see it, we won’t know exactly what their intentions are. They may vote for something that merely stiffens oversight, which could actually be done in a way that represents constructive cooperation with Obama and Democrats, but does not halt the program in any meaningful sense.
But will GOP base voters really go for such a squishy solution? Politico reports today that GOP leaders are already feeling pressure from the Republican rank and file to be seen acting decisively:
GOP leaders in both chambers are under pressure from their rank and file to act on the refugee situation, and that pressure will likely not let up — especially as Congress inches closer to a Dec. 11 deadline to pass a spending bill that’s already been a ripe target for policy riders. “There’s a lot of interest in it,” said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the third-ranking Senate Republican. “A lot of our members want to see it addressed.”
GOP leaders have left open a must-pass spending bill as an option to attach policy changes that would enact tougher oversight of the resettlement program. A growing number of GOP lawmakers are pushing leadership to be more aggressive; 55 House Republicans have signed a letter led by Rep. Brian Babin of Texas demanding a rider in the Dec. 11 spending bill that would strip funding for the Obama administration’s plans to accept 10,000 more refugees from Syria.
Trump’s broadside suggests that the pressure could indeed intensify on GOP leaders to go a lot farther in blocking the program than they may want to — including using government funding as leverage, which could lead to a shutdown. Ted Cruz has also been apparently laying the groundwork to accuse GOP leaders of being soft on Syrian refugees, by proposing a ban on Muslim refugees in particular, which GOP leaders won’t go for.
(By the way, as an aside, keep an eye on how Congressional Democrats handle this. Some of them may prove skittish enough to side with those calling for a meaningful pause in the program. But that’s for a future post.)
I doubt GOP leaders will allow the party to get drawn into a government shutdown fight over calls to ban Syrian refugees. But this may end up being another area where we see a lot of anger and disappointment on the right over the failure of GOP leaders to “stop Obama,” and a cynical effort to stoke and profit off of the same by certain GOP presidential candidates.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...yrian-refugees-than-squishy-gop-leaders-will/
