Recently, Nancy Pelosi has brought a sprawling 1,815-page bill to the floor of the House. The bill would spend roughly $3 trillion on the next “stimulus” package. The bill contains a massive bailout for states and numerous provisions on every leftist wishlist. But does anyone get credit for opposing this bill? Not really.
For starters, instead of just voting no on Pelosi’s bill the government needs to come up with a plan for the $3 trillion debt they just spent these past several months. Yes, the government needs to spend money to respond to coronavirus because they shut down swaths of the economy as a public health measure. But they also can’t avoid this debt.
Republican House members need to remember a few things when they go to cast their votes against Pelosi. In the 2010 elections, she didn’t lose her speakership because of Obamacare. A scientific study concluded that the Obamacare vote alone cost Democrats 13 seats in the House that year. She proved willingly to lose the speakership to pass the law and would do so again if given the chance. The Democrats sacrificed reforming entitlements, tax cuts, immigration laws, all to pass Obamacare.
Republican house members need to start stomping their feet against this liberal mess. Conservative lawmakers, in fear of the left-winged media, have begun to stray from their rhetoric. In July 2017, former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said of his prior rhetoric regarding Obamacare, from defunding the law to “repeal and replace”: “I never believed it.” And of course he waited to announce this when he left office to work at an investment bank.
Point being, the Pelosi bill has been outrageous and the fact it has gotten as far as it has is beyond me. There’s 68 references to cannabis and only 52 references to jobs. The provisions include providing money to illegal immigrants, allowing illegal immigrants to work (even when 30 million Americans are out of work), providing taxpayer funding for abortion, block voter identification laws, give tax cuts, and imposing a host of other liberal fantasies on Americans.
There is all the reason in the world for the Republican house members to trumpet votes against the Pelosi legislation. They need to leverage that power and claim back House leadership from Pelosi. This bill is a major gamble on her part. With enough discipline and endurance from the Republicans, she might just pay a substantial price for it.