The Moderate Republican thing may be a Chimera
As in, mythical. There are supposed to be 25, 50, 100, 150+ (depending on who's telling it) House Republicans that would vote in favor of a "clean" CR—essentially the same as the Senate Bill—reopening the government.
They are, however, becoming like those tempermental spirits that won't appear whenever there are skeptics in the room. The usual indicator of wanting the shutdown to end would be casting votes that support that outcome. Where are those votes?
None of these supposed Republicans who want to end the shutdown have started a discharge petition, or signed a discharge petition. Only a handful have ever voted against Boehner on any of the many, many bills the House has voted on that are meant to hinder and prevent an end to the shutdown. Everyone says the votes are there for a clean CR, but day after day this mysterious mass of Republican moderates seems afraid to vote against the Tea Party line.
I have no idea what their deal is. I suspect they figure that a vote against a bill blocking Obamcare is a vote for Obamacare, and won't cast such a vote. But a discharge petition, for instance, to force a vote on a clean CR would not be casting a vote for Obamacare. The CR wouldn't take any position on Obamacare. So where are these supposed moderates?
The House rejected Wednesday an effort by House Democrats to put a clean temporary spending bill on the floor, closing one opportunity to re-open the federal government.
The complicated process went like this. House Republicans proposed a partial spending bill to fund the National Parks Service. House Democrats moved to replace that bill with the Senate-passed spending bill that would fund the government as a whole.
House Republican leadership rejected the motion. House Democrats appealed the rejection. House Republicans moved to block the appeal, and the House then voted 230-194, largely along party lines, to block the appeal.
If the House had allowed the appeal, there might have been a chance for the Senate spending bill to come to the floor for a vote Wednesday evening. The expectation is that the Senate bill would be approved if put up for a vote, with moderate Republicans joining Democrats to pass it, ending the government shutdown.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/house-gop-blocks-vote-on-reopening-government
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