Senate Republicans' gross irresponsibility - By Jennifer Rubin
July 25 at 9:00 AM
Of all the reckless and counterproductive stunts the Senate Republicans have pulled — including shutting down the government in 2013 — none is as glaring and destructive as their decision to vote without a single hearing on a bill dramatically reshaping health care and taking coverage away from tens of millions of people. And they don’t even know what they are voting on. I don’t mean they are confused as to what’s in the bill; that would be commonplace laziness. No, in this case less than 24 hours before voting the GOP had not decided what bill to vote on.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) was alternately incredulous and outraged. “We’ve been on the topic of health care for 7 months,” he said on the floor Monday. “Republicans have been talking about repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act for over 7 years. And yet, here we are, one or two days from a vote on the motion to proceed, and we don’t even know what Republican plan to vote on.” He continued, “We are potentially one or two days away from a vote on a bill that would reorganize one-sixth of the American economy, impacting tens of millions of American lives — and no one knows what it is! It’s sort of like ‘Alice in Wonderland’ around here. It’s come down to this bizarre game where the Republican leader has basically said, ‘let’s spin a wheel and see what we’re going to vote on.'” Actually the Republican confusion perfectly reflects their and the president’s mind-set — they really don’t care about health care, let alone improving health care. This is now a game of chicken, testing whether they are more afraid of being tagged as cruel (voting to repeal Obamacare with no viable replacement) or cowardly (refusing even to vote).
A chasm a mile wide is opening inside the GOP. On one side stands the profane, irresponsible and ignorant president and his followers; on the other is a smattering of actual grown-ups. In the former category count Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Tex.), who declared it “absolutely repugnant” that “some female senators from the Northeast” won’t vote to repeal. Apparently he thinks West Virginia (home to Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito) and Alaska (home to Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski are in the “Northeast.” (Republican Sen. Susan Collins from Maine does come from the Northeast so he was one for three.) He then cracked: “If it was a guy from south Texas, I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style.” Oh, that’s a knee-slapper. Yes siree. That’s a Republican from the party of Trump.
At the other end of the spectrum, Ohio Gov. John Kasich released a statement, which read in part: “The American people will come out on the losing end if Senate Republicans try to force through a new healthcare proposal with no bipartisanship, transparency or open dialogue. Until Congress can step back from political gamesmanship and come together with a workable, bipartisan plan, it is a mistake for the Senate to proceed with a vote on Tuesday and force a one-sided deal that the American people are clearly against.” He urged Congress to get back to a bipartisan approach. What Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) regards as a threat (talking to Democrats), Kasich knows is an essential element of legislating.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/07/25/senate-republicans-gross-irresponsibility/?utm_term=.99d7d6a6ca35
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How Sessions regains his honor
By Jennifer Rubin July 25 at 9:57 AM
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One might think such a step — firing Sessions or, worse, firing Sessions in order to fire Mueller — even for Trump would be self-destructive in the extreme. Sessions is popular on the far right — much more popular than Trump, I would suggest. (In some respects the far right embraced Trump so it could get an attorney general like Sessions and a Supreme Court justice like Neil Gorsuch.) If anything could finally bring Republicans to their senses and provoke them to begin seriously considering impeachment, firing Sessions and then Mueller might just do it.
Not only would Sessions’s firing likely provoke an uprising on the right but it also would free up Sessions to cooperate with the special counsel and, like former FBI director James B. Comey, feel unburdened by executive privilege. Given that Sessions may have some liability of his own (giving false statements to Congress in confirmation testimony, omitting Russian contacts on his security clearance form, participating in a scheme to fire Comey under false pretenses, etc.), he would have every incentive to be as forthcoming as possible with former Senate colleagues now investigating the administration and with the special counsel.
In short, getting fired might be the capstone of Sessions’s career. He could enjoy a new lease on (political) life, an opportunity for redemption.
Let’s face it, Sessions was an early and essential enabler of Trump. He rationalized and normalized Trump for conservatives, defended and encouraged unconstitutional measures (e.g., the Muslim ban, the attack on sanctuary cities) and, worst of all, joined in impugning the federal courts. (“I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the president of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and constitutional power,” he said about Judge Derrick Watson of a federal district court in Hawaii.) As things stand now, he’ll be remembered not as a senator but as a Trump facilitator, someone who helped send the GOP on the path to ruin. But what about another distinction, a third act? Sessions could be the man who defended the rule of the law, the apolitical work of the Justice Department and FBI. He could be the witness under oath who explains former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn’s conduct and relays the president’s motive for firing Comey. In becoming an unsparing truth-teller (the John Dean of Trump’s Russia scandal), he’d restore his own reputation. He could prove to his critics that he is no political hack but rather someone who cares about the fair administration of justice.
So sure, Mr. President, go ahead and fire Sessions. That’ll move things along in a big way — although not in the direction Trump hopes.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/07/25/how-sessions-regains-his-honor/?utm_term=.8a588d4d7165
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