My colleague Kate Riga and I have been tracking the various ways in which Republicans are freaking out about how their party’s longstanding and extreme positioning on abortion will impact them in coming elections. Kate wrote an excellent piece earlier this week on Republican 2024 candidates’ flailing as they repeatedly and publicly struggle to pick any specific footing on the issue, aware that restrictive policy platforms and abortion bans in general have proven themselves to be wildly unpopular among voters and will likely hurt them in the upcoming presidential general election.
I won’t unpack all the evidence that supports the notion that Republicans are losing the battle of public opinion on abortion here, but to catch up, I’d recommend reading this, this and this.
But, this week, the omnipresent dilemma and intra-party rift appeared in a new venue.
As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) deals with the chaos of a dysfunctional majority after hardliners ground legislating to a halt this week, his leadership team has reportedly been meeting with centrist Republicans to keep them apprised of what bills they plan to push next week if/when the Freedom Caucus stops its tantrum-throwing over the debt ceiling deal.
One of those bills is focused on cutting a Biden administration gun regulation and another is about abortion. That one seeks to make limitations on taxpayer funds for abortion care — often referred to as the Hyde Amendment — permanent. The Hyde Amendment is a perennial football in Congress, passed and repealed and altered repeatedly depending on which party has control.
But the private meeting to discuss the upcoming docket didn’t go well, according to Politico. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who is a survivor of rape and who has repeatedly opposed abortion restrictions that don’t include exemptions, asked Republican leadership point-blank why they were even considering bringing forward such a measure right now.
Per Politico:
“Why the hell are we doing this?” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) asked Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), according to two House Republicans familiar with the meeting.
Things got more heated from there, the two Republicans added: Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.) confronted Mace for taking to TV and blasting other Republicans for their positions on abortion. Mace responded that the party is losing the battle for public opinion on the issue, arguing that tacking further to the right would hurt the centrists who handed the GOP the majority.
The Hyde Amendment legislation is now reportedly not on the GOP’s list of bills for next week, but the private spat amidst a broader party rift that McCarthy is already struggling to navigate is, perhaps, illustrative of just how deep heartburn about Republicans’ unpopular positioning on the issue goes.
The Best Of TPM Today
Here’s what you should read this evening:
The latest from the Josh Marshall Podcast: Ep. 276: Disaster Averted
Supreme Court Delivers Major And Unexpected Win For Voting Rights
Medicaid Wins Big At Supreme Court Despite Fears That Right-Wing Majority Would Hobble Program
How The Supreme Court’s Alabama Decisions Affected The 2022 Election — And Could Shape 2024
ICYMI yesterday: Moms For Liberty Co-Founders Use SPLC Naming Them An ‘Extremist Group’ As An Excuse To Raise Money
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
WH Sounds Alarm After McCarthy Tries To Buy Off Far-Right With Soc Security-Slashing Commission — Nicole Lafond
What We Are Reading
Past cases persuaded Justice Dept. officials to shift Trump case south — WaPo
In a Contentious Lawmaking Season, Red States Got Redder and Blue Ones Bluer — New York Times
ADL Warns Twitter Against Working With ‘Obvious Antisemite’ Tucker Carlson — Daily Beast
