Democrats are preemptively blaming Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for an expected filibuster Thursday of a transportation, housing and urban development funding bill aimed at making middle-class investments and keeping the federal government open this fall.
Six Republicans voted for the THUD legislation in the Appropriations Committee. But now some of those lawmakers are expected to back off and prevent it from advancing in the full Senate, under pressure from McConnell and conservative activists, who complain that it spends too much money. Democrats are making a last-ditch effort to win them back.
The legislation invests in transportation, infrastructure and economic development projects across towns and cities. It sets spending at levels agreed to in the Budget Control Act (better known as the debt limit deal of 2011) before the automatic cuts of sequestration kick in. The Senate-passed Democratic budget gets rid of sequestration, but Republicans want to ensure that domestic spending does not rise above the lower, post-sequester levels.
“Senator McConnell is desperate to kill this bipartisan bill and avoid looking weak (again),” a senior Democratic aide emailed TPM. “If he succeeds in pressuring his members to filibuster this, then Democrats are going to be very happy to go home and talk about their work fighting for jobs and infrastructure investments, while Republicans are going to have to go home and explain why they prefer gridlock and obstruction.”
McConnell’s spokesman Don Stewart, reached for comment, didn’t dispute the claim that the Republican leader is whipping his members against the legislation. Clearly they’ve been watching his speeches yesterday and Tuesday,” he said. “Yes, Republicans are opposed to blowing past the budget caps that we all agreed to.”
The procedural vote in the Senate comes one day after an ultraconservative version of the same legislation was yanked from the floor in the House, after Republican leaders decided it didn’t have enough votes to pass.
The cloture motion comes as a vulnerable McConnell faces a variety of competing pressures. Up for reelection in 2014, he faces a credible Republican primary challenger and a credible Democratic opponent. He’s also under pressure not to permit a government shutdown this fall, for the sake of protecting his party’s national brand.
But Job No. 1 for the red state Republican is to protect his own right flank. And conservative groups, including Heritage Action, are demanding that senators scuttle the THUD bill. McConnell has lost some of his power this year after coalitions of rank and file Republicans, led by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), have teamed up with Democrats to address issues like immigration reform and ensure the confirmation of controversial presidential nominees.
A filibuster of the THUD bill would disrupt that narrative — whether temporarily not not — and signal that McConnell retains his grip over his Republican conference.
