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.

    • dhork@lemmy.world
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      9 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.

      • jballs@sh.itjust.works
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        9 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.

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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      9 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.

      • insomniac@sh.itjust.works
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        9 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

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    9 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!