The internecine sniping in the Republican party is going to be the one thing that maybe, just maybe, saves us all.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told the Alaska Journal that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) didn’t hold an end-of-session vote on a compromise energy bill because he and other Republicans had to catch a train to the fundraiser.
“The Speaker said ‘We’ve run out of time’ because they wanted to get on the party train,” Murkowski told the newspaper in an interview published late Monday. […]
After passing a spending bill and a water reform package, the House adjourned on Dec. 8 for the holiday recess without bringing a compromise version of the energy bill to the floor. The National Republican Congressional Committee was scheduled to hold its annual “Bright Lights and Broadway” fundraiser in New York City that weekend.
Silly Murkowski. What could she be thinking? That Ryan is interested in actually doing work stuff? Never mind that they were this close to completing this legislation they've been working on for two years, the closest they've come to a comprehensive energy reform bill in a decade. He had a fundraiser to go to. Priorities!
This public, intra-party sniping is a nice change from the triumphalism we're seeing from leadership. It's also a chance, finally, for the so-called moderates in the Senate GOP to start using their powers for good rather than evil. Whether it's Murkowski or the duo of John McCain and Lindsey Graham, it's time for these Republicans to do what Republicans do best—obstruct. But this time they need to be obstructing McConnell, Ryan, and Trump. Maybe they can save their party. Maybe they can save the nation.