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The fissures among Republicans on reopening the government continue to grow, but not fast enough or wide enough to save all the federal workers who are at the breaking point. Ten Republicans in the House voted Wednesday with Democrats to reopen government with no strings, one of which was Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson, a senior Republican who does not break with leadership on the big stuff. Joining him when the Senate votes on Thursday will be Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner.
In addition to the white supremacist immigration "reform" bill handed down from acting president Stephen Miller, the Senate will vote on a "clean" continuing resolution—without border wall funding—which would open the parts of government now shut-down through Feb. 8. This is the same bill the Senate passed on Dec. 19, with the added sweetener of $14 billion in disaster relief. Both votes have a 60-vote threshold, and conventional wisdom is that both will fail.
One Republican senator whom Politico reporters Burgess Everett and Marianne Levine are declining to identify explained, "Our leadership is strongly encouraging us to set off a negotiation by having both go down so that it forces a negotiation." So that will be the vast majority of Republican senators being for something before being against it—that something being the paychecks of 800,000 federal workers and 1.2 million federal contract workers.
Right now, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is the only Republican besides Gardner who is announcing she will vote for the CR. She has made a very strong point, however, of saying she really, really supports Trump's white supremacist bill, so, you know, both sides. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is characteristically mum on her plans. Others who are up in 2020, like Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Joni Ernst of Iowa, are sticking with Trump. Tillis goes so far as to say the CR is "the exact opposite of a good faith proposal."
Again, it is the exact same bill that the Senate approved unanimously on Dec. 19, with the added benefit of help for Tillis’ state. But he's sticking with Trump! Federal workers are at the breaking point. The administration is proving unmatched in its callousness and cluelessness toward the suffering it is inflicting. Trump's approval rating is in a free fall. And the majority of Republicans are sticking with him.
Call your Republican senators at 202-224-3121 and tell them to reopen government. Don't stop until this is over.