It's Friday, September 23, and Day 222 since Justice Antonin Scalia died and Mitch McConnell decided no nominee would get any Senate attention: No meetings, no hearings, no votes. It's also Day 191 since Merrick Garland was nominated by President Obama to fill that vacancy. And, hey, look at that: government funding runs out in one week.
So what's the Senate doing today? Nothing. At least, nothing public. There might be some negotiating behind the scenes on the short-term continuing resolution that is supposed to pass before next Friday and fund the government until December 9. But that doesn't seem likely. Because the bill McConnell dropped yesterday was a Republican-only bill, a bill designed specifically to make the Democrats oppose it. It does not include any assistance to Flint, Michigan, to deal with its water crisis. That's enough for Democrats to oppose it.
McConnell's move could set up a showdown vote next week. Democrats said they would likely filibuster the measure since it omits a bipartisan plan to provide $220 million to help Flint and other cities with lead emergencies replace pipes and take other steps to clean their water.
"To see the (stopgap funding bill) come to the floor with help for Louisiana and not for the families of Flint is outrageous," said Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. "And I will do everything in my power to make sure that this does not happen." She noted that the Flint aid has been many months in the making and is financed by spending cuts, while funding for flood aid in Louisiana is added directly to the national debt.
McConnell said the measure is "the result of many, many hours of bipartisan work across the aisle," noting that it would also allow stepped up spending to combat opioid abuse -- a priority of several Senate Republicans who are up for re-election, such as Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Rob Portman of Ohio. It also contains the budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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It’s a bill designed to help his own senators, and screw everybody else. It's not just the Flint issue, though. The bill, which McConnell calls "clean" provides emergency money to Louisiana—without any offers—but doesn't treat fighting the Zika virus as an emergency and steals funds from existing programs for it. It also continues a prohibition against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requiring public companies to disclose political spending. Because of course Republicans are going to fight campaign finance transparency.
And McConnell calls this "clean." It's as poisoned as anything he's ever done, designed to put Democrats in a vise within days of a government shutdown. It's poisoned by all the lead in Flint's water system and all the children who have been harmed by it. It's as despicable and cynical as McConnell has ever been. Which is saying an awful lot in the year in which he created a constitutional crisis by refusing his advice and consent obligation on the Supreme Court.