Who are the Odd Eight in the House That Crossed Party Lines on the Wall?
Who are the Odd Eight in the House That Crossed Party Lines on the Wall?
By David North on December 21, 2018
Who are the eight members of the House who left GOP ranks to vote against the wall on Thursday?
The spending bill passed with all the Democrats in opposition and some 217 Republicans voting for it. It contained a provision calling for $5.7 billion for the wall. It is unlikely to get through the Senate without changes.
The eight includes four who are not coming back next month, four with lots of Hispanic voters in their districts, and some in both categories.
The most interesting no vote came from Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), a moderate who just barely got re-elected last month. His district, with many Hispanics in it, is on the border stretching east from the outskirts of El Paso along hundreds of miles of the Rio Grande. The wall probably would have created a major chunk of economic activity in some poverty-stricken areas along that river, but he voted against it.
The three others who are returning next year who voted with Hurd are the Justin Amash (R-Mich.), a strict fiscal conservative; Ken Buck (R-Colo.), a Freedom Caucus member along with Amash; and the moderate Fred Upton (R-Mich.).
The four who are leaving Congress are Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), and David Valadao (R-Calif.).
The ones whose districts have with large Hispanic populations are Curbelo, Hurd, Ros-Lehtinen, and Valadao.
Curbelo, Paulsen and Valadao all lost their bids for re-election; Ros-Lehtinen did not run again, and will be replaced by Donna Shalala (D-Fla.), a rare former federal cabinet member serving in the House. She was Bill Clinton's Secretary of Health and Human Services, and will be a predictable open-borders vote.
https://cis.org/North/Who-are-Odd-Ei...rty-Lines-Wall
The eight Republicans who bucked on border funding
By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times - Friday, December 21, 2018
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Eight Republicans in the House joined 177 Democrats in voting against President Donald Trump’s border wall funding request.
Call this The List of Political Suicides. At least, it would be, save the fact that half are leaving office, anyway.
They are: Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Carlos Curbelo, both from Florida; Justin Amash and Fred Upton, both from Michigan; Ken Buck from Colorado; Will Hurd from Texas; Erik Paulsen from Minnesota; and David Valadao from California.
Meanwhile, 11 other Republicans outright skipped the vote.
What were their reasons for bucking their party’s tide — for turning aside their president’s wishes — for bluntly telling the conservatives of America: Sorry, we’re with Democrats on this one?
Waste.
Wasteful spending, as Amash put it in a tweet.
“This massive, wasteful spending bill — stuffed with unrelated items — passed 217-185,” Amash wrote. “It’s amazing how some wall funding causes my fellow Republicans to embrace big government.”
That’s one way to look at it.
Another? Smart Republicans in the House know the American people are getting tired of open borders, of Democrats winning on border controls and of the GOP, in general, caving and conceding and cowering in corners whenever a political fight brews on Capitol Hill — even when the GOP holds majorities. So they voted for the border wall funding.
But here’s a bigger reason why these eight bucked the border bill: Half, politically speaking, are soon to be untouchable.
Valadao, Ros-Lehtinen, Curbelo and Paulsen — all of whom have come out hard in the past against border walls and border wall funding, and even against Trump — are going home, anyway. Paulsen, Curbelo, and Valadao lost their re-elections, and Ros-Lehtinen announced months ago she was retiring.
What can angry voters do to them?
Hurd, meanwhile, tweeted this: “The American people sent us up here to get things done, and the only way we can get things done is by working together.”
That’s nice; somebody tell the Democrats.
In the meantime, Amash, Hurd, Upton and Buck better prepare for the angry phone calls. This is one of those moments in time that voters are going to remember.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...order-funding/
