Boehner plots shutdown move as critics weigh options
House Republican leaders will move next week to approve a “clean” government spending bill — and avert a shutdown — but only after they hold a vote on a measure to bar federal funding for Planned Parenthood, according to multiple sources familiar with the GOP’s plan.
The move, which comes as conservatives are weighing whether to try to remove John Boehner as House speaker, was discussed at a closed GOP leadership meeting Thursday. It involves a legislative tactic called an “enrollment correction,” which essentially changes the text of a bill that has passed the House and the Senate. But it would ultimately be a meaningless exercise: The Senate would reject the measure, and President Barack Obama has said he will veto any spending bill that tries to defund Planned Parenthood.
Boehner (R-Ohio) is trying to avoid a repeat of the 2013 government shutdown, but at the same time preserve his hold on power after five years in the speaker’s chair. After Pope Francis departed the Capitol on Thursday afternoon, Boehner met with the leaders of a conservative group that has threatened to try and overthrow him. The members of the House Freedom Caucus would not say whether they would attempt to strip Boehner of his gavel if he can’t block Parent Parenthood’s funding, although some hardliners have threatened to do so.
On Friday morning, Boehner is expected to announce at a closed party meeting that the House will ramp up its oversight of Planned Parenthood and immediately begin drafting a budget reconciliation bill that would strip the group of its government funding. That measure would need nly 51 votes to pass the Senate and is likely to reach President Barack Obama’s desk, but he would almost certainly veto it.
Furthermore, Boehner and the GOP leadership will announce additional votes on anti-abortion legislation in the coming weeks and months.
The plans, as always in the unpredictable House GOP, are subject to change.
But the new, multistep effort on Planned Parenthood by House Republicans comes as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) failed in his own effort to cut off funding for the women’s health group. McConnell will now move a clean funding bill that would keep the government open through Dec. 11.
By a 47-52 margin, a continuing resolution that included the Planned Parenthood defunding provision failed to move forward in the Senate on Thursday, allowing McConnell — who has already ruled out a shutdown — to argue that a clean stopgap funding measure is the only solution left.
However, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, vowed to use whatever tactics he can to block any CR that allows Planned Parenthood to continue to receive taxpayer dollars.
“I believe that Republicans should act like Republicans,” Cruz told reporters Thursday. “We have majorities in both houses of Congress, and the voters have gotten wise to leadership’s practice of show votes. And they are interested in Republican majorities of Congress actually standing up and defending the principles we promised we would defend when we were elected.”
Cruz’s tough rhetoric may prove to be little more than fodder for his presidential campaign. But he and the hard-right House Republicans are problematic for party leaders, especially Boehner. His grip on the speakership has never been more tenuous. And if Congress is unable to defund Planned Parenthood in this round of votes, as expected, a member of the House Freedom Caucus could move quickly to try and overthrow Boehner as speaker.
Sources close to Boehner dismissed the notion that he would the offer the motion to vacate the speaker’s chair himself, as some Republicans have privately suggested he do as a show of strength. Boehner and his senior aides are prepared for one of the Freedom Caucus members to do so, perhaps as early as next week, and they predict they can win any internal showdown with hard-line conservatives.
Boehner huddled Thursday afternoon with GOP Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who leads the Freedom Caucus, and Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, Matt Salmon of Arizona, Reid Ribble of Wisconsin and Raúl Labrador of Idaho, all members of the conservative group.
Upon leaving the meeting, none of the dissidents would commit to trying to overthrow Boehner or comment directly on what was said during the session in the speaker’s office. But the Freedom Caucus held two private meetings on Thursday, according to a source, and a number of members of the group are openly discussing the need to replace Boehner.
A GOP source said the five Freedom Caucus members who met with Boehner on Thursday told him they would not introduce a motion to force him to step down and that the group as a whole had no plans to do so.
“There is no concerted effort to put together a scenario [to prompt a motion-to-vacate vote], but we think it is inevitable,” said a lawmaker who was also in the meeting. “Someone will do it, somebody will move to vacate the chair and we are going to have to act.”
Asked whether passage of a “clean” funding bill would cost Boehner his speakership, Mulvaney noted that “any member — any member — can bring that motion at any time.” Mulvaney estimated that “at least 50" Republicans would vote against a government funding bill that does not strip money from Planned Parenthood.
Later in the day, Mulvaney predicted that Boehner would need Democratic help to remain speaker, although that actually would not be the case if Democrats simply didn’t vote on the motion to vacate. Boehner would then just need a simple majority of his own Republican members to remain in power.
“I think if a vote to vacate the chair came up tomorrow more than 29 members would vote against him,” Mulvaney said. “In order to maintain his position he would require Democrats.”
Boehner also met Thursday afternoon with longtime anti-abortion GOP Reps. Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania, Trent Franks of Arizona, Diane Black of Tennessee and Chris Smith of New Jersey.
Boehner and other GOP leaders have made a concerted effort to court anti-abortion groups like the National Right to Life Committee in a bid to seek political cover during the Planned Parenthood fight. Between his efforts to woo anti-abortion lawmakers and the multistep approach on Planned Parenthood, Boehner and his allies are hopeful that he has done enough to isolate hard-liners as a faction that just wants to cause internal dissension, not offer substantive legislative or political solutions.
So far, it appears that the effort has been successful, although there remains a core group of at least 25 members who would be glad to see Boehner replaced.
Lauren French contributed to this report.