Jan.26

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

What Can the Democrats Do about the MAGA 20?

Democrats can't do anything to stop the MAGA 20 extremists, but Greg Sargent over at The Washington Post has four suggestions how to force them to show their true colors to the country, as follows:

• Force votes on amendments: One of the things Kevin McCarthy agreed to was allowing amendments from the floor. Democrats could take advantage of this by forcing votes on amendments that make Republicans take positions they don't want to take. For example, when an immigration bill comes up that focuses only on blocking all immigration, they could offer an amendment that provides even more money for border enforcement but also gives the dreamers a path to citizenship. Almost every Republican will oppose it. Then the Democrats will start working on their 2024 ads that say: "Democrats wanted to hire more border patrol agents and Republicans voted it down."
  
  
• Bipartisanship: Democrats could work with one or more moderate House Republicans, for example, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), to produce bills that the moderates genuinely want. Unlike the above strategy, the goal here is not to simply embarrass Republicans and provide material for ads, but to try to get bills passed with 213 Democrats and maybe 5-10 Republicans. This will make the heads of the MAGA 20 explode. Such bills could be done in conjunction with at least one moderate Democratic senator and one moderate Republican senator. The senators might be Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), who have worked together before on legislation.
  
  
• Discharge petition: Kevin McCarthy certainly does not want votes on any bills that might embarrass his members or drive the MAGA 20 crazy, but he doesn't have full control of the process. One technique that exists but is rarely used is the discharge petition. If 218 members of the House vote to force a bill stuck in committee onto the floor, then a floor vote must be taken, even if the speaker doesn't want one. Democrats plus a few moderate Republicans could force bills on immigration, raising the debt ceiling without any conditions, and more onto the floor for amendments and votes
  
  
• Empower southwestern Democrats: The best spokespersons the Democrats have on immigration are the senators and representatives from the border states. Democrats should let them take the lead. They know the material the best and have the most credibility on the subject because they have the most skin in the game. Let them craft target bills and take the lead in defending them.
  

Will Democrats do any of these things? We'll see, but all of the proposals make sense to us. (V)