Just over a year after Republicans shut down the government over health care, Speaker John Boehner is staking his reputation as a responsible lawmaker (gag me) on avoiding another shutdown, this time over immigration.
His big challenge, of course, is his own caucus, because many House Republicans don't want to fund the government, they want to lash out at President Obama.
An early test for Boehner will come Thursday, when legislation sponsored by Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) is slated to come to a vote in the House. The Yoho measure would publicly rebuke the president for his unilateral actions on immigration and would be an opportunity for Republicans to vent.
The bill is expected to pass, but the margin will be closely watched by House GOP whips to see whether it gives Boehner any momentum as he turns to his funding bill, which would include 11 of the 12 appropriation bills except for the Department of Homeland Security, which has jurisdiction over immigration enforcement. The plan calls for a funding measure for DHS through February, about a month after the new Congress convenes.
Will the GOP's extremists be content with the Yoho bill, or will they push for more of the many, many highly adult, not at all petty ideas they've already floated to punish the president—impeachment! censure! defunding Air Force One! not inviting the president to deliver the State of the Union in person!—in exchange for the monumental concession of funding the government of the United States of America? With dozens of Republicans planning to oppose Boehner's plan, it's looking increasingly likely that Boehner will need Democratic votes to prevail. But that puts a limit on the ways he can try to appease his own extremists:
“They may [need Democratic votes], so they ought to tailor it so they don’t engender opposition,” [Minority Whip Steny] Hoyer said. “So far, they haven’t come to me about making a deal, but they have asked me what I thought and I’ve told them.”
Hoyer cautioned that if Boehner begins to tweak his plan further in the coming days with legislative riders meant to woo conservatives to vote for the spending bills, Democrats’ willingness to offer a hand could dissipate.
As it should. Boehner shouldn't be able to expect to throw extremist Republicans a pile of bones and get Democratic help on the dog of a bill that results.
9:10 AM PT: This shouldn't surprise anyone:
WH issues veto threat on Yoho's bill blocking his exec action which, FWIW, several attorneys tell me probably wouldn't block his exec action
— @BenjySarlin