Tea Party Theatrics and DHS Funding: Different Channel, Same Show
They huffed and they puffed, but members of the GOP right wing failed to stare the House down over the president’s executive order on immigration.
In the end, they went down quietly.
After weeks of drama, House Republicans finally on Tuesday did what many Capitol watchers had expected they鈥檇 do for weeks: They passed a bill funding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without any riders seeking to undo President Obama鈥檚 recent executive order on immigration policy.
The final vote of 257-167 earned the support of all 182 House Democrats 鈥 including Hawaii Reps. Tulsi Gabbard and Mark Takai 鈥 plus 75 representatives from the majority party.
The Senate had already passed the bill without incident, and it will now go to the president, who has promised he鈥檒l sign it. Hawaii, for which DHS operations are perhaps more important than other states, can breathe easily, knowing there will be no interruption in funding for the department鈥檚 many critical responsibilities.
Rep. Mark Takai was one of many House members frustrated by tea party theatrics on the DHS funding bill that passed Tuesday.
Cory Lum/Civil Beat
While Congress鈥 work is now done on this measure, few can be happy about the process that yielded this outcome. Once again, the tea party wing of the GOP insisted on picking a fight it was fundamentally unable to win, wasted an enormous amount of time getting to a foregone conclusion, humiliated House Speaker John Boehner and, in the end, walked away empty-handed.
Tea partiers鈥 frustration, however, may well be surpassed by that of their colleagues. Takai was among many who took to social media and the House floor, accusing fellow representatives of 鈥減olitical grandstanding鈥 and demanding they stop 鈥渉olding hostage鈥 the DHS bill.
鈥溾 you know as well as I do that forcing this 鈥 is not the proper way to go about having this debate,鈥 the freshman lawmaker said Monday in a floor speech directed at Boehner. 鈥淎t the beginning of the 114th Congress, you wrote an op-ed with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell entitled, 鈥楴ow We Can Get Congress Going.鈥 That is what I wrote to you and urged you to do today, Mr. Speaker.鈥
The grumbling wasn鈥檛 entirely left to Democrats. Rep. Peter King, R-NY, may have spoken for more than a few when he called those pushing for immigration riders 鈥渟elf righteous and delusional鈥 during an appearance Sunday on ABC News鈥 “This Week.”
If their Quixotic crusades against the Affordable Care Act, the federal debt ceiling, presidential nominees and now immigration reform have taught members of the tea party caucus anything, one wouldn鈥檛 know it from their reactions to today鈥檚 action. 鈥淭his is the signal of capitulation,鈥 fumed Iowa Rep. Steve King, one of its leaders, .
Sadly, this likely isn鈥檛 the last time we鈥檒l see this game. Capitol insiders widely predicted voters would make the GOP pay at the ballot box following the 16-day partial government shutdown in 2013 (a shutdown that had significant impact in Hawaii, given its large number of federal employees and operations). Instead, the party picked up 13 seats in the fall 2014 elections, expanding its majority to a comfy 59.
Playing to the GOP鈥檚 seemingly always angry/never-sated right wing not only feels good, it comes with no apparent price tag and plenty of attention.
From : “Rep. John Fleming, a House Freedom Caucus founding member, said more battles pitting the president against Republicans are coming 鈥 and leadership should be prepared.”
We can hardly wait.
