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When my parents were good Republicans my mother a party activist, in fact the label meant something entirely different than it does today.

It was the party of Lincoln, imagine that, and the GOP tolerated differences with a tent that was indeed big. You could be pro-civil rights and fiscally conservative, a working-class African-American family in Maryland, then, as now, a mostly blue state, and there was someone such as Republican Sen. Charles Mathias. With his streak of independence and loyalty to principle, he could represent you, your party and even those who didnt vote for him.

But what does the GOP stand for in 2017? The answer, of course, is President Donald Trump, a man who changes positions and then contradicts himself.

As Republicans scramble to defend him and explain themselves, the efforts have become laughable. After years of defining itself as against anything Barack Obama was for or as the party most likely to besmirch a virtual or actual portrait of Nancy Pelosi with a cartoonish villain mustache, what, seriously, does the GOP believe in?

They have Congress and the presidency what they have wished for yet health care, tax and infrastructure reform have stalled. Freezing out Democrats and arguing amongst themselves leave only Trump as touchstone, and isnt that a pity. He fumes and tweets, angering world leaders fighting terrorism and muddling policy in America and around the globe.

The continuing testimony of intelligence and administration officials past and present will be one more test for GOP politicians. Do you value power more than patriotism? Time to review the Constitution.

So far, the presidents allies have supported him before the whole story is known about Russian involvement in the 2016 election or anything else. Attack ads against former FBI chief James Comey return the country to campaign mode. But will that do anything but buy Republicans time with the Trump base?

If Republicans want to keep what they have craved, shouldnt they stand for more than applauding Fearless Leader in the White House while intoning the mantra: What he said?

On issues from climate change to NATO support to criminal justice reform, most Republicans have ceded ground, common sense and positions they previously espoused to the man in the White House. In return, if his letting Jeff Sessions, the loyal longtime buddy, twist in the wind before a vote of confidence is any indication, there is no reason to believe Trump will reward any Republicans support. If the going gets rough, the president will diss you in a tweet in a New York minute.

House members and senators trying hard not to alienate the base that sticks by the president no matter how many promises are broken, however, have made a choice.

This transformation has been a long time coming, mirrored in my parents eventual disillusionment as GOP moderation turned to a Southern strategy they believed betrayed their loyalty; it gained the party votes after Democrats became identified as the party of civil rights in the 1960s, but it damaged the soul of the party.

Democrats, never an organized bunch, should not feel too smug. If the infighting among Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton supporters, and Clintons casting of blame in all directions is any indication, staying strong on what being a Democrat means will be a struggle for the out-of-power party. African-American Democratic women are already warning the party it risks alienating an unwavering source of its power if it compromises on core beliefs of equality and diverse representation.

An important lesson playing out in real time is that principle is not a person. Trumps campaign name-calling has continued in ill-advised tweets and has trickled down to the schoolyard (though in truth, the floor of Congress looks and sounds pretty juvenile some days).

Extreme positions have become normalized and so-called traitors to the Republican Party are called names and threatened with exile. Colin Powell served in the military, and in government under President George W. Bush, but as he chided his fellow Republicans fordog whistles of President Obamaas a Muslim threat and the alienation of minority voters with restrictive state laws, he was banished.

Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency underBush, warned of the dangers of EPA cuts. And where did that get her, but on the outs?

Mitt Romney was the partys presidential nominee way back in 2012. But his criticism of Trumps character probably nixed his chance to be selected forsecretary of State. Newt Gingrich, whom many blame for pushing partisanship to toxic levels when he was House speaker, said as much. Mike Huckabee said Romney first needed to publicly repudiate his comments. Way harsh, Pastor Huckabee. But when it comes to Trumps own less-than-Christian words, behaviors and marriages, Huckabee, and his fellow white evangelicals, are all about forgiveness.

When they go home at night, what do these Republicans tell their children? What do they tell themselves? What will they tell their constituents when they hit the campaign trail?

In Michigan, which voted for Trump last fall, residents, especially in Flint, might want some answers on how a watered-down and defunded EPA will protect their water?

In West Virginia, a Trump stronghold, when the large percentage of citizens on Medicaid ask whats next, will representatives be able to articulate an answer that makes sense? Make America Great Again doesnt sound quite specific enough. But for now, thats all theyve got.

The next time the U.S. needs European allies at its back and there is no one there, will the GOPs Trump huzzahs lose their oomph?

Some Republican senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John McCain of Arizona, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Susan Collins of Maine and Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, for example make noises about looking to the Constitution and acting accordingly.

Yet they all went along when Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky held up a Supreme Court seat that was President Obamas to fill. Graham said he had no doubt Democrats would have done the same thing, using the other-guys-are-worse excuse that we laugh at when misbehaving kids repeat it.

Alas, even Sen. Mathias was eventually doomed by his independence, losing out on leadership of the powerful Judiciary Committee because of his increasing unhappiness at the rightward drift of the Republican Party and the conservative policies of Ronald Reagan. That maneuver was engineered by his own party colleague Strom Thurmond and isnt that fitting.

That was also the last straw for my mom. When Reagan spoke at Mississippis Neshoba County Fair in 1980, not far from where three civil rights workers were murdered in 1964, and spoke of his support of states rights to a raucous white crowd, she confided that she could not in good conscience ask folks in our neighborhood to vote for him. A woman of principle, she felt the party walked away from her.

If this good Catholic lady were alive today, hearing and seeing the party of Trump, she might even turn independent.

Roll Call columnist Mary C. Curtis has worked at The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun and The Charlotte Observer. Follow her on Twitter @mcurtisnc3.Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android.

More:
Opinion: What Exactly Do Republicans Believe in Besides Trump? - Roll Call

Going nowhere.

The health-care bill thatsqueaked through the House and is now beginning to possibly move through the Senate had a lot of problems, but at least it had a plausible plan to get through Congress and become a law. The financial-regulation bill the House will consider today(to "repeal" the Dodd-Frank Act) has no plan, and no apparent possibility of going anywhere beyond the House. It will presumably pass ona straight party-line vote, with every Democrat voting against it.

Which means it will run smack-dab into a Senate filibuster and (if the Senate leadership bothered to bring it to the floor, which seems unlikely) fall at least eight votes short of the 60 needed to overcome that tactic.

A daily round-up of superb political insights.

Jonathan Bernstein's Early Returns

As I've said before, we should think of this as a choice: House Republicans prefer the symbolic win of passing something that goes nowhere to the hard work of constructing a law, which sometimes requiresbipartisan support. And they do so (at least in part) because, on the one hand, their voters (and the Republican-aligned media their voters listen to) love symbolic actions and are indifferent to winning incremental substantive battles; on the other hand, Republican-aligned groups don't demand substantive gains. The former is perhaps best explained by the theory that Republicans are in important ways an ideological party, as Matt Grossmann and Dave Hopkins explain. The latter -- groups organized around common economic interests that are willing to settle for symbolic victories -- is a complete mystery, at least to me.

1. Marc Lynch at the Monkey Cage on Donald Trump, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

2. "Comey is describing here conduct that a society committed to the rule of law simply cannot accept in a president." That'sBenjamin Wittes at Lawfare.

3. Greg Sargent on the tactics available to Senate Republicans on their health-care bill. Very helpful.

4. Brian Beutler suggests Democrats should supply the votes needed to avoid default -- in exchange for abolishing the debt limit for good.

5. Good Nate Cohn item on why Democrats don't have to win this year's special electionsto have a good chance of winning a House majority next year.

6. And why does Arizona have Confederate monuments to take down, anyway? Antonia Noori Farzan reports that most of them were only erected in the last two decades. Sort of amazing to me, since I grew up there before at least some people tried to turn the state into a hotbed of the Confederacy.

Get Early Returns every morning in your inbox. Clickhereto subscribe.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story: Jonathan Bernstein at jbernstein62@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Brooke Sample at bsample1@bloomberg.net

Read the rest here:
Republicans Go for a Win in Name Only - Bloomberg

ROSWELL, Ga. Republicans set to vote in a crucial special congressional election are sticking by President Trump and Karen Handel, the GOP nominee, unmoved by the daily drumbeat of scandal from the White House.

In interviews Wednesday, Republicans in this upscale Atlanta suburb said they weren't concerned about the Senate testimony of James Comey or implications that Trump acted improperly in firing him as FBI director because of a desire to kill an investigation into his possible Russia ties.

Although there is lingering discomfort with Trump's habit of opining and picking fights on Twitter, staunch Republicans here generally view the president as a Washington outsider who is learning on the job and will get better.

They expect he'll have more bumps in the road in the months ahead, but that isn't diminishing their support for him or, significantly, Handel, who is running to fill the area's vacant House seat in a toss-up campaign.

"He could tone down the tweets and put more emphasis on the issues. But the issues that he's pushing forward are issues I support," said Bob Anderson, 70, who voted for Ohio Gov. John Kasich in Georgia's 2016 Republican presidential primary. "I don't think that there's any pro-Russian agenda on the part of the Trump administration, and I think that's been demonstrated so far."

Comey was scheduled to testify Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee about the circumstances surrounding Trump's decision to dismiss him as FBI director.

In his opening statement publicized Wednesday, Comey suggested that Trump acted improperly in urging him to drop an investigation into Michael Flynn, a top Trump campaign surrogate and the president's former national security adviser, over his contacts with Russian officials.

That ongoing saga has engulfed Washington, and Trump's national approval ratings have taken a hit. Republicans working to elect Handel are concerned. Trump won the 6th Congressional District by only 1.5 points, even as Tom Price, now Health and Human Services secretary, was elected with more than 60 percent.

Indeed, Democrat Jon Ossoff narrowly led Handel in the latest polling averages with less than two weeks to go until the June 20 election. An Ossoff victory would send shockwaves through Washington. This suburban district, white collar, traditionally Republican but skeptical of Trump, is the sort Democrats have to win in 2018 to have a shot at a House takeover.

But traditional and reliable GOP voters remain satisfied with Trump and are motivated to participate, even though they would prefer more action from the Republican majorities on Capitol Hill. They're lining up behind Handel. Many, like Marie Shubert, 79, cast their vote early.

"She's a Republican, and we need all the help we can get in Washington," said Shubert, who backed Trump in the 2016 primary. "President Trump is doing OK. He's doing, as a matter of fact, very well. He's getting a lot of things done that are good for the country good for us. The Congress not so much. I'm very disappointed."

"They're taking so long with everything," she added. "Just like this Obamacare. I'm so disappointed because they had 10 years to fix it, and they always said they would fix it, and they always said they had a bill, but in the end they didn't."

The Washington Examiner spoke with a collection of Republican voters Wednesday afternoon while tagging along with a field canvasser volunteering in Roswell for the Congressional Leadership Fund, the GOP super PAC affiliated with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

The wealthy community, with homes ranging from more than $100,000 to more than $1 million, is situated in the more conservative, northern end of the 6th District, which has been held by the GOP for four decades.

Fidelity to the Republican Party in this area is not surprising. The voters here are conservative and established, as compared with the more moderate Republican transplants to the area who live closer to downtown Atlanta.

But it's notable.

These are not the poor, thinly educated working-class voters so often associated as unshakably loyal to Trump. They own well-appointed homes, built on large lots adjacent to leafy streets.

As with the blue-collar voters credited with propelling Trump to victory in November, ethical clouds surrounding Comey's firing and the Russia investigation haven't diminished their enthusiasm for Trump and the potential they see in him.

Nearly five months in, Brenda Jimmerson, 70, gives Trump a grade of "middle of the road."

"But he's not a politician," she said. "It's his first time in office. He went into it for what I consider to be the right reasons. And if everybody that takes a new job starts out perfectly takes a new job, I would be surprised."

Jimmerson's main complaint? "Some of his tweets need to be contained," she said.

See original here:
Republican voters sticking with Trump ahead of James Comey ... - Washington Examiner

BLOOMINGTON, IL

As he works to get his crops planted, the weather keeps Illinois farmer Gerald Thompson in his fields during the day.

Worrying about the political direction of his country is what often keeps him up at night.

To me, we are in such a dysfunctional state, he said as he stands between his green John Deere tractor and the planter attached to it that help him get his seeds into the ground.

Worried about Congress

Thompson says he is not upset with President Donald Trump, the candidate he voted for in the 2016 general election.

I think Trump is a good businessman and hell see the value in what agriculture has to offer, he said.

But Thompson is among a majority of Americans who disapprove of the performance of the U.S. Congress.

Until we get rid of 90 percent of the politicians, put in term limits and put people there that actually go to work for the right reasons, were going to have problems, he told VOA.

Agricultural Act of 2014

The 2016 presidential election was largely shaped by rural and working class voters in a part of the country sometimes called flyover country, the interior of America where many felt overlooked by their elected lawmakers. What fuels a large part of the economy in flyover country, where Thompsons home and farmland are located in rural Bellflower, Illinois, is agriculture. Here, the Agricultural Act of 2014, the most recent Farm Bill, is a key piece of legislation.

Its provided somewhat of a safety net, Thompson said.

The Farm Bill is the single biggest piece of legislation that impacts his livelihood, and Thompson knows that the politicians he is critical of now will be the ones he will have to depend on to craft a new Farm Bill by 2018.

The Farm Bill that became law in 2014 provided nearly $500 billion of federal funding overall.

Eighty percent of the farm bill is food and nutrition programs and rural development, Thompson said, referring to the U.S. Governments SNAP or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called the Food Stamp Program that provides assistance to millions with little or no income. Twenty percent of the total amount of the Farm Bill goes to farmers, Thompson said.

Direct payments

Part of that assistance includes reimbursement for certain conservation efforts and assistance with securing crop insurance. In previous Farm Bills, much of what farmers received was by direct payments.

The amount of dollars that come back to us in the form of direct payments is so insignificant today as a percent of our total budget, it needs to be gotten away with, in my opinion, because I believe its a political challenge for us to defend that, Thompson said.

The last Farm Bill significantly cut those direct payments, instead subsidizing and expanding crop insurance.

So far the loss of direct payments hasnt been that big of a deal, said Kirkwood, Illinois, farmer Wendell Shauman. Time will tell. We ebb and flow in this. Back in the 80s it was a huge deal. Basically our income was what we got from the government. Thats a sad time in agriculture and we certainly dont want to go back to that situation again.

While Shauman agrees with ending direct payments, it could have provided recent relief.

Supplies are high, prices low

Were buried in corn and beans, prices are so low. The farm economys been so bad I think this will be the fourth year in a row where farm income has gone down, he said.

Shauman is in a race against time, and the weather, to get the last of his soybeans planted. As he steadily guides his tractor through dusty fields he hopes will produce abundant corn and soybeans later this year, he is just as concerned about the crops he harvested last year, which are stored in his grain bins.

The price has been so low, so long, people have held on hoping its going to get better, he told VOA. And in the last couple of weeks its gotten even worse.

The price of corn today is just less than $4 a bushel, down from a high of more than $8 a bushel at the peak of the drought in 2012. While the current price is higher than average over the last 50 years, thats no solace to struggling farmers.

The difference today is the cost of production we incur is so much greater that even though we are at historically high levels, our margins are still very, very thin, Gerald Thompson said. They look to project this years net farm income to be about half of what it was four years ago.

Stagnant grain prices, high quantities in storage, and no direct Farm Bill payments form the basis of the agricultural landscape lawmakers and farmers face as they begin negotiating a new Farm Bill. Despite the economic outlook, Shauman expects further cuts.

Politically, we have very little clout, Shauman said.

Bad weather could be good

But Thomson says the lack of clout in Washington isnt the biggest issue for him.

Your biggest risk factor is something you have no control over, which is the weather, he said as he battled the dust and heat to finish the last of his major tasks of getting his corn and soybeans planted.

But in a twist of irony, bad weather could be the thing that helps farmers.

A short crop this year and it wouldnt have to be a terribly short crop would raise the price considerably, he said.

But just like the weather, a short crop isnt something Wendell Shauman can count on. But he hopes the Farm Bill is, which is why he wants whatever legislation to take shape by 2018 ultimately help keep him in business when everything else a farmer cant control is working against him.

More here:
With Republicans, Trump in Charge, Farmers Ponder New Farm Bill - Voice of America

Republicans in Kansasbroke ranks with the state's conservative governor Tuesday night, voting to raise tax rates and put an end to a series of cuts.

TheGOPrevolt isa defeat for Gov. Sam Brownback, who overhauled the state's tax system beginning in 2012,part of whatcalled a "real-live experiment" in conservative governance. Yet the economic boom Brownback promised has not materialized, leavingthe state government perennially short on money and forcedto reduce basic services.

Kansas's legislature is overwhelmingly Republican, but moderate GOP lawmakers joined with Democratsto override Brownback's veto of the bill to increase taxes. Eighteen of the state's 31 GOP senators and 49 of the 85 Republican members of the House voted against the governor.

Tuesday's vote was a rebuke not only for Brownback, but also for Republicansin Washington who have advocated similar cuts in taxes at the national level -- includingPresident Trump. Although Republicans in Kansas are giving up on the experiment, Trump and his alliesare hoping totry again.

The principles Trump endorsed during the campaignand in the early stages of his presidency arebroadly similar to those enacted in Kansas.As Brownback did, Trump has proposed bringing down marginal rates, getting rid of brackets andgiving a new break to small businesses.

That is no coincidence, since Brownbackis well connected to the Republican policymaking establishment in Washington.Trump and Brownback have shared economic advisers, andwhen Brownback was a U.S. senator, Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), now the speaker of the House,served as his legislative director.

The victory for Brownback's opponents resulted in part from their gains in last year's election. Voters -- frustrated that public schools were closing early and the state's highways were in visible disrepair -- rejected Brownback's allies in favor of more moderate Republicans or Democrats.

"It was a hard vote for a lot of people to make last night," said Rep. Melissa Rooker, a moderate Republican who represents a suburb of Kansas City. "Kansas has had a turn to the far right, and we seem to be centering ourselves."

The legislationundoes the essentialcomponents of Brownback's reforms. The governor had reduced the number ofbrackets for the state's marginalrates on income from three to two. The legislature will restore the third bracket, increasing taxes on the state's wealthiest residents from 4.6 percent to 5.2 percentthis year and 5.7 percent next year.

Marginal rates on less affluent Kansanhouseholds will increase as well, from 4.6 percent to 5.25 percent by next year for married taxpayers makingbetween $30,000 and $60,000 a year and from 2.7 percent to 3.1 percent for those earning less than that.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) spoke at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 23, and pushed for less government regulations. "When have we added more government anywhere that's taken more taxes and you end up with a product that's more efficient that costs you less?" he asked. "What's your example?" (The Washington Post)

The legislationalso scraps a plan to bring those rates down even more in future years,one of Brownback's promises to conservative supporters.

Finally, the legislatureeliminated a cut Brownback had put in place to help small businesses. Analysts said thatthe provision had becomea loophole, as many Kansans were able to avoid paying taxes entirely by pretending to be small businesses.

Initially, the state forecast thatabout 200,000 small businesseswould take advantage of the break. As it turned out, about 330,000entities would useKansas's new rule. Thatdiscrepancysuggests that tens of thousands ofworkers claimed that their incomes were from businesses they owned rather than from salaries.

State budget analysts project the tax increase will raise an additional $600 million annually.

"What we were able to do in the last 24 hours can allow us to start down that road, to begin repairing all the damage done after living with Gov. Brownback's failed tax experiment for five years," said Annie McKay, who is the president of Kansas Action for Children, anadvocacy group in Topeka.

The Trump administration unveiled their proposal to overhaul the tax code on April 26, outlining sharply lower tax rates but fewer tax breaks. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Proponents argued that reducing taxes would stimulate the state's economy. "We have worked hard in Kansas to move our tax policy to a pro-growth orientation," Brownback said in a statement on vetoing the legislation. "This bill undoes much of that progress. It will substantially damage job creation and leave our citizens poorer in the future."

Since 2012, however, the pace of economic expansion in Kansas has consistently lagged behind that of the rest of the country.

Last year,Kansas's gross domestic product increased just 0.2 percent, federal data show, compared to 1.6 percent nationally. That was an improvementfor Kansas, though:At the end of2015, the state was in what many economists would describe as a recession, with the economycontracting two quarters in a row.

Last year's election substantially weakened Brownback's support in the legislature. In November, Democrats picked upa seat in the Senate, which has 40 members, and 12 seats in the House, which has 125. In primary elections in August, Republican voters had forced out 14incumbent alliesof the governor, replacing them with more moderate candidates.

OtherGOP lawmakers who supported Brownback retired last year, and moderate Republicans won a few of those seats as well. Rooker, the GOP legislator, said her former colleagues werenot eager to confront frustrated voters in another campaign, or to deal with the fiscalheadaches Brownback's policies had created if they did win reelection.

The legislature began this year's session with the government in a deficit of $350 million.

"People expect us to take care of business efficiently and appropriately," Rooker said. "I just think it was the pressure building. Something had to be done."

"The elections reflected a mood in Kansas that possibly Kansas politics had shifted too far to the right," said Rep. Don Hineman, a moderate Republican who represents a rural district in western Kansas. "It was time to return to a more centrist position, which is where Kansas has traditionally been governed from."

For the past several years, legislative sessions have been protracted as lawmakers have struggled to find solutions to the state's fiscal woes. That pattern continued this year, and Hineman hopes that with the tax increase enacted, lawmakers can finally leave Topeka this weekend.

On Saturday, he hopes to head back to hisfamily's farm, which his son operates. This week, they are putting in grain sorghum. "Im anxious to get back home, and my son is anxious for me to be home, because he would like to have me on the tractor," Hineman said.

See the original post here:
Kansas Republicans raise taxes, ending their GOP governor's 'real live experiment' in conservative policy - Washington Post