A small but significant number of moderate GOP lawmakers are plotting a path toward potentially working with Democrats to fund the government past Sept. 30 and combat a shutdown.

At least three Republicans — Reps. Mike Lawler (N.Y.), Don Bacon (Neb.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) — have expressed an openness to joining Democrats in signing a discharge petition, a mechanism to force a vote on a measure against the wishes of the Speaker.

Four members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus introduced a bill Friday that reflects the group’s framework for a short-term stopgap funding measure. Fitzpatrick suggested Sunday that lawmakers could use a discharge petition to compel a vote on that legislation.

Five Republicans would need to join their party’s leaders in order to force action with Democrats.

  • Flying Squid
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    809 months ago

    Are there five moderate Republicans? I’m surprised there are three at this point.

    • @[email protected]
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      419 months ago

      There are 14 current Republicans in Congress whose district voted for Biden for President in 2020, so ar least those Republicans need to acknowledge that they can’t get too extreme if they hope to be reelected. Supporting a compromise measure that had bi-partisan support last time seems to be a slam-dunk win for them.

      • @[email protected]
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        149 months ago

        “If Speaker McCarthy relies on Democrats to pass a continuing resolution, I would call the Capitol moving truck to his office pretty soon, because my expectation would be he’d be out of the Speaker’s office quite promptly,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told reporters last week.

        This tells you everything you need to know about how extreme most of the Republican party is. Just the idea of compromising with Democrats to maintain current funding levels and not shut down the government is enough to be seen as extreme.

        • @[email protected]
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          59 months ago

          They tried to oust him when he was doing what they wanted. Why is he even still trying to work with them?

    • @[email protected]
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      369 months ago

      There’s zero. The moderate conservatives are in charge of the DNC. The most “moderate” Republicans still in Congress are paleoconservatives, which is far right.

    • vlad
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      169 months ago

      Politics is a spectrum. Break the binary!

      • @[email protected]
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        289 months ago

        Unironically true. On the left-right spectrum, the major US parties are one spanning from center-right to right (with very few center-left exceptions) and one that spans from far right to literal fascism, with the fascist wing of the party dominating 😮‍💨

        • @[email protected]
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          -49 months ago

          Everything is relative. You’re looking at the US from a western European perspective. There’s no single objective “normal” left vs right.

          Look, I agree that the US is too far right, but I’m a little sick of western Europeans claiming to speak for the world here. The casual superiority complex is annoying. Saudi Arabia is faaaaaaar to the right of the US.

          • @[email protected]
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            89 months ago

            I’m a little sick of western Europeans claiming to speak for the world

            If you’re an American, that’s about the epitome of hypocrisy 😂

            Saudi Arabia is faaaaaaar to the right of the US.

            Used to be true, but not true of the GOP any more. It’s a more old fashioned kind of far right, sure, but it’s not farther right.

            The SA system is one where the royal family controls everything, LGBTQ+ people have no rights, women are second class citizens and the laws are closely tied to Islam.

            The system the GOP is openly striving for is one where the president controls the entire federal government and can override state laws, LGBTQ+ people have no rights, women are second class citizens and the laws are closely tied to Christianity.

      • @[email protected]
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        19 months ago

        Well my first thought is that Obama’s Bacon number is 3 and Don Bacon met with Obama when he was in the military. So his Bacon number is at least 4.

        I think you can maybe get him to 3 through Trump though since he was in Two Weeks Notice with Sandra Bullock, who was in Loverboy with Kevin Bacon. And Don Bacon was pretty outspoken during the Trump admin so I think it counts as a connection.

        He can’t have a legit bacon number though since he’s got no film credits

    • @[email protected]
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      19 months ago

      People saying shit like that is what keeps the moderate Republicans from ever playing ball.

      I know I’m falling on deaf ears, but maybe someone will read this and not be too stupid to understand how things work in the real world.

      • @onionbaggage
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        09 months ago

        Hey man I want Moderate Republicans to exist as much as the next person, but you may as well be hoping for a fucking unicorn or leprechaun at this point.

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    59 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    A small but significant number of moderate GOP lawmakers are plotting a path toward potentially working with Democrats to fund the government past Sept. 30 and combat a shutdown.

    and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) — have expressed an openness to joining Democrats in signing a discharge petition, a mechanism to force a vote on a measure against the wishes of the Speaker.

    Four members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus introduced a bill Friday that reflects the group’s framework for a short-term stopgap funding measure.

    Signing an opposing party’s discharge petition would be an act of political mutiny, so the increased public conversation — and support — surrounding the break-the-glass option underscores the pressure lawmakers are under as they race to prevent an end-of-month shutdown after the House GOP flailed on multiple spending fronts last week.

    But triggering the last-ditch option could spell trouble for the Speaker as hard-liners heighten their threats to confiscate his gavel if he works with Democrats to keep the lights on in Washington.

    All House Democrats — 213 members — signed on to a discharge petition in May, which leaders circulated as a way to force a vote on legislation to raise the debt limit and avoid an economic default.


    The original article contains 1,115 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!