What the House has brought together, let the Senate tear asunder:
First it was objections by House Democrats that stood in the way of passage of a $1.1 trillion catchall spending bill. Now it's the Senate Republicans' turn, specifically Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah.
The two lawmakers demanded a vote Friday night on a proposal to cut funds from the bill that could be used to implement President Barack Obama's new immigration policy, ending any chance the measure could clear the Senate and be sent to the White House with a minimum of fuss.
Officials in both parties said the bill remains on track for clearance by early next week. Even so, the move led Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, to abandon plans to adjourn the Senate for the weekend, and raised the possibility of a test vote on the spending bill shortly after midnight on Saturday.
Which is to say, to see if there are enough votes to attain cloture and cut off debate. Which, if the vote on the House side is any indication, there probably will be, although Dirty Harry appears to be taking no chances, just in case.
This is because Senators Cruz and Lee aren't the only senators howling bloody murder about the Cromnibus:
Obama has sided with old-school pragmatists [<eyeroll>] in his party like Reid, but he's split from leading liberals such as House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-CA8, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-MA. Warren blasted the measure in a Senate speech for the third straight day, saying it was a payoff to Citigroup, whose lobbyists helped write a provision that significantly weakens new regulations on derivatives trading by Wall Street banks.
"Enough is enough. Washington already works really well for the billionaires and the big corporations and the lawyers and the lobbyists," Warren said. "But what about the families who lost their homes or their jobs or their retirement savings the last time Citi bet big on derivatives and lost?"
Another provision loathed by many Democrats — though backed by the Democratic National Committee — raises the amount of money that wealthy donors may contribute to political parties for national conventions, election recounts and headquarters buildings.
Democrat civil war, anyone? That's a schism to keep close tabs on, both because the media will embargo it, and because that will be the fault line on which the 2016 Democrat primaries will be fought between Senator Warren and Hillary Clinton.
With Ted Cruz and Mike Lee bombarding Cromnibus from one side and Fauxcahontas fusillading it from the other, might the $1.1 trillion behemoth crumble before it can get to Red Barry's desk? One can only hope. As we have commented numerous times here and on our radio programs, the very notion of ramming through a ten-month continuing resolution in the lame duck session, cut with defeated Senate Democrats, robbing the unified Republican 114th Congress that was just elected five weeks and change ago of half its fiscal and budgetary prerogatives, throwing away its leverage against a plethora of unconstitutional spending and schemes, most especially The One's unlawful amnesty decree, is insane policy and even crazier politics.
Now you all know that I differ somewhat from the Tea Party line on this in that I don't call this a "betrayal" and John Boehner "throwing in with Obama" because House 'Pubbies caved across the board out of paralyzing fear of another government shutdown, not any devious "turning of the coat". Frankly, Republicans aren't that smart. They're "the Stupid Party," remember? They think they're helping themselves by avoiding another shutdown showdown with the invincible Barack Obama, when what they're really doing is throwing away a plumb opportunity to flex the enhanced muscles the voters just gave them for this very purpose and (again) infuriating their own base in the process.
Maybe they could have at least somewhat mitigated this grassroots outrage by throwing us a few bones here and there. But not only is that not the case, but I'm afraid, my friends, that the fiasco is going to get even worse:
This time, Republican officials said they may have inadvertently given Reid an opening to win confirmation for several of Obama's nominees that might otherwise have languished.
With the end of the two-year Congress approaching, Reid is pressing to confirm about twenty Obama nominees to fill posts such as surgeon general, director of the Social Security Administration and federal judgeships. [emphasis added]
Remember how I'm always telling y'all that Barack Obama isn't "incompetent," but rather malevolent? With the GOP "establishment," it's the reverse. They're not devious, treacherous, Snidely Whiplash-esque quislings; they're bumbling, spineless cowards who marinate in the Donk Beltway poison media stew and come to believe every propaganda meme with which the Left relentlessly bombards them.
Or, in short, "GOP Battered Wife Syndrome".
Still, nothing would be sweeter, tastier, Homer-Simpson-with-a-box-of-doughnuts delectable than to see Cromnibus fall to a Cruz-Lee-Warren filibuster. After a second career in radio, it would be the best Christmas present I could receive.
Exit question: Once again I ask: Could not the 114th Congress simply repeal Cromnibus and replace it with the original budget/appropriations process? Or at least strip out the DHS funding for Obama's unlawful amnesty, ObamaCare, etc.? Or am I missing something?
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