here we go again…
Looks like the socialist Democrats are getting ready for a repeat performance of their border funding debacle, this time jeopardizing funding for our troops.
After the Senate passed a bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act by an 86-8 vote two weeks ago, the socialists have once again worked themselves into a tizzy, upset that Congress wants to fund our military. The socialists are demanding cuts to military spending, turning the process into a “s**tstorm” according to one senior Democrat.
So once again swing district Democrats are left with a choice – demand a vote on the bipartisan Senate funding bill and cause a backlash with their socialist base or bow down to the angriest socialists and jeopardize funding for our troops.
In case you missed it…
Dem tensions snag defense bill
The Hill
Rebecca Kheel and Scott Wong
July 10, 2019
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/452298-dem-tensions-snag-defense-bill
Lingering animosity among House progressives over a controversial border bill’s
passage is threatening to trip up a sweeping defense policy bill that typically
passes with large bipartisan majorities.
Progressives are balking at the $733 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which touches on everything from the type of hardware the Pentagon can buy to a pay raise for service members to setting up a new military service for space.
[…]
Progressives are returning to Washington unhappy with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) decision late last month to move a $4.6 billion border-aid bill that had already passed the Senate.
The Speaker added more fuel to the fire by dismissing criticisms in a high-profile interview with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd from four liberal darlings who call themselves “The Squad”: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).
Now the Democrats are being asked to back the defense bill. One senior Democratic source tracking the issue described it this way: “NDAA is turning into a s—storm.”
[…]
Top House Armed Services Committee aides attended separate meetings of Democratic chiefs of staff and legislative directors this week, pleading with them to get their bosses to back the bill, according to a source in the meetings. The committee aides also asked for lawmakers’ cellphone numbers so they could whip votes this week.
“Whenever they are there, it’s a bad sign. These are all signs of nervousness,” the source said.
[…]
The NDAA spat is the latest in a series of skirmishes between Democratic leadership and progressive firebrands, including over the defense budget. Leadership had to pull a budget resolution from a floor vote earlier this year over progressive opposition to the defense figure, and in order to pass the defense appropriations bill, paired it with the spending bill for labor, health and human services, and education.
Most recently, Democrats have been left riven after Pelosi decided to move the $4.6 billion border-aid bill. Progressives wanted a bill that had stricter rules on care for migrants, but House moderates threw their support behind the Senate version, dooming a more progressive bill.
The border bill passed though 95 Democrats bucked Pelosi and voted “no”; just seven Republicans voted “no.”
Pelosi’s remarks to Dowd have led to a public fight with Ocasio-Cortez and her allies.
“All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world,” Pelosi told Dowd. “But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”
Ocasio-Cortez shot back on Twitter, “that public ‘whatever’ is called public sentiment.”
[…]