What Does This Morning's Budget Vote Have To Do With Midterm Primary Politics?

4 inches-- what if she had worn sneakers?

Señor Trumpanzee signed the budget deal this morning that the House passed 240-186 at 5:32 AM, ending Rand Paul's evening government shutdown. I wonder if he would have signed it if it included a couple of lines about not deporting DREAMers. Ryan failed to get yes votes from 67 Republicans, so Nancy of the 4" heels gave him 73 Democrats to fill in the gap-- primarily Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, who were happy, happy to once again vote for the Republican position... but not entirely.

Crap congressmembers like Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ), Ami Bera (New Dem-CA), Darren Soto (New Dem-FL), Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ), Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL), Jim Himes (New Dem-CT), Charlie Crist (Blue Dog-FL), Vicente Gonzalez (Blue Dog-TX), Kathleen Rice (New Dem-NY), Cheri Bustos (Blue Dog-IL), Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL), Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ), Gerry Connolly (New Dem-VA), Annie Kuster (New Dem-NH), Suzan DelBene (New Dem-WA), Lisa Blunt Rochester (New Dem-DE), Salud Carbajal (New Dem-CA), Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX), Derek Kilmer (New Dem-WA) made it possible to pass thing thing.

So what's the big deal? Pramila Jayapal, who represents Seattle in Congress explained exactly what the big deal is:

This was a difficult night. And it will be a difficult several weeks as 800,000 Dreamers once again weep and fear deportation. Tonight, Republicans refused to give the same simple assurance that Senate Majority Leader McConnell gave: that we would have a fair process and a vote on a bipartisan, bicameral, permanent solution for Dreamers.

It is true that there were many important priorities addressed in this bill,  from opioid funding to community health centers. However, all the good in the world cannot erase the betrayal of the Dreamers, young people who are as American as all of us.  Immigration has never been simply a policy discussion. It has always been about who we are as a country and what we are willing to stand up for. Without a clear agreement on Dreamers, I simply could not vote for this bill.

  Donald Trump created the crisis of Dreamers when he played to a small minority of his base and rescinded DACA. He made them deportable, then urged Congress to fix his mess. He made agreements that he then did not keep, including that he would sign any bipartisan deal that was brought to him. He has been given multiple opportunities to do so and has refused them all.

  But make no mistake, the current failure to bring a Dreamer bill to the floor lies at the feet of Speaker Paul Ryan. Tonight, he implied that he would tackle this issue immediately.  It’s our job to hold him and the Republican majority accountable to that.

And for primaries leading up to November's midterms? The New Dems and the Blue Dogs generally stick together as adjuncts to the Republicans when they're needed. They may tell you they would have voted NO-- but history shows that isn't the case. Whatever you do, do NOT vote for a Blue Dog. Do not vote for a New Dem... unless you think Congress needs another member from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. So how do you know who's a New Dem and who's a Blue Dog? The candidates know how toxic that is in a primary, so they never admit it until after the primaries. That's one endorsement you never find on their websites.

Here are the candidates who have been officially endorsed so far this cycle by the New Dems-- avoid, avoid, avoid:

• Ann Kirkpatrick (Tucson)
• Greg Stanton (Phoenix)
• Dave Min (Orange Co.)
• Harley Rouda (Orange Co.)
• Hans Keirstead (Orange Co.)
• Lauren Baer (Palm Beach Co)
• Jason Crow (suburban Denver)
• Paul Davis (Topeka)
• Elissa Slotkin (Lansing)
• Angie Craig (Twin Cities southern suburbs)
• Dean Phillips (Twin Cities westren suburbs)
• Dean McCready (Charlotte)
• Brad Ashford (Omaha)
• Mikie Sherrill (Morris, Essex counties)
• Max Rose (Staten Island, Brooklyn)
• Anthony Brindisi (North Country)
• Susie Lee (Southern Clark County)
• Chrissy Houlahan (Philly suburbs)
• Jana Lynne Sanchez (Arlington/Ft Worth)
• Jay Hulings (South Texas)
• Ben McAdams (Salt Lake suburbs)
• R.D. Huffstettler (Southside)
• Dan Kohl (Oshkosh, Sheboygan)

And the Blue Dogs, most of whom have also been endorsed by the New Dems, Some say they're worse than the New Dems but they really are just the same garbage:

• Brad Ashford (Omaha)
• Anthony Brindisi (North Country)
• Paul Davis (Topeka)
• Gretchen Driskell (southern Michigan)
• R.D. Huffstettler (Southside)
• Jay Hulings (South Texas)
• Brendan Kelly (southwest Illinois)
• Ben McAdams (Salt Lake suburbs)
• Dean McCready (Charlotte)
• Max Rose (Staten Island, Brooklyn)

You may say they're better than an actual Republican but that argument doesn't hold up in primary season. Like I said... avoid, avoid, avoid.

There's quite a bit of buzz in California right now about a Facebook post by Fran Sdao, the very shady chair of the Orange County Democratic Party who is trying to stampede Democrats into voting for the conservative candidates the establishment backs-- Dave Min (CA-45), Hans Keirstead (CA-48) and Mike Levin (CA-49) even before the primary. It’s as if no one learned the lessons from Debbie Wasserman Shultz and how badly that turned out (for everyone but Donald Trump). The argument isn't even valid, since one of the Republicans, Greg Raths, isn't even running for Congress, but for the Board of Equalization. What a mess! Sdao should be removed immediately.


UPDATE: One Bad New Dem:

Darren Soto who likes to make a big deal about being a Puerto Rican in Orlando, although he doesn't actually do anything substantive for the Puerto Rican community in Orlando. His excuse for voting with the Republicans this morning was that there was money in the bill for Puerto Rico. But progressive Puerto Rican members José Serrano (D-NY), Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) and Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) all voted no. And in case Soto couldn't understand why, Gutiérrez was very outspoken about it. Fact of the matter was that Soto made a great show of giving a seat at Trump's State of the Union address to a DREAMer... and then promptly threw him under a bus-- or, more to the point, onto a bus.