As House Passes VAWA We Again See Blueprint For Democratic Success

     I've written often before that I think that the more pessimistic prognosticators who think the next 2 years will just be more of the same obstruction we've seen the last 2 are quite wrong. To the contrary we now have a successful formula for passing actual legislation and we've already seen it in action numerous times since November 6.

    We saw it with the fiscal cliff, Sandy relief, and now with finally getting the Violence Against Women Act renewed. The formula is simple: Democrats in the Senate pass good legislation. House GOP comes up with a watered down, unacceptable alternative. It fails, then Dems all support the Senate bill with just enough of a smattering of moderate or at least responsible Republican votes to get it through. Even some House Republicans are now recognizing this:

   "House Republicans must be willing to enlist Democrats to pass important legislation, a moderate GOP lawmaker told TPM on Thursday after his leadership passed the Violence Against Women Act with mostly Democratic votes."

   “I suspect you may see more issues appear like this,” moderate Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) told TPM in an interview Thursday afternoon. “It’s quite possible on matters of governance, where there are not the Republican votes, that there will be bipartisan coalitions formed to pass important legislation. … If John Boehner doesn’t have enough Republican votes, we’ll need Democratic votes. It’s very basic. There’s no way around it.”

     http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/charlie-dent-hastert-rule-republicans.php?ref=fpb

     The key is the demise of the Hastert Rule. That's why it's not true-as Boehner had claimed, that the GOP will be as obstructionist this time as the last 2 years. With no Hastert Rule, we will actually see meaningful legislation get done.

     "VAWA was the third time this year that the Republican leadership violated the so-called Hastert Rule by bringing legislation up for a floor vote without the support of a majority of Republicans. The other two instances were to avoid the fiscal cliff and to provide disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy."

     "The Republican Party must be a governing party, and the Republican Party must be a governing party in the House,” Dent said. “If it cannot govern on its own then it’s going to need to develop bipartisan coalitions to pass important pieces of legislation.”

      "The VAWA vote reflects the changed landscape since the last Congress when House Republicans, invigorated by their large new majority, rejected bipartisan governance in favor of pushing their ideological priorities. Now, facing an emboldened President Obama and Democratic Senate and with a smaller majority, House GOP leaders no longer have the luxury of catering to their every wish.AWA was the third time this year that the Republican leadership violated the so-called Hastert Rule by bringing legislation up for a floor vote without the support of a majority of Republicans. The other two instances were to avoid the fiscal cliff and to provide disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy."

      “The Republican Party must be a governing party, and the Republican Party must be a governing party in the House,” Dent said. “If it cannot govern on its own then it’s going to need to develop bipartisan coalitions to pass important pieces of legislation.”

       "The VAWA vote reflects the changed landscape since the last Congress when House Republicans, invigorated by their large new majority, rejected bipartisan governance in favor of pushing their ideological priorities. Now, facing an emboldened President Obama and Democratic Senate and with a smaller majority, House GOP leaders no longer have the luxury of catering to their every wish."

       Dent gets it: to pass legislation, it will need House Dem support. It's not just about numbers. In the 80s the Dems had a healthy House majority and took back the Senate in 1986; however, they had to cave the Reagan much more than the opposite. As Bill Kristol admitted on Fox the Sunday after the election "Elections have consequences."

     This is why I like to say the future's so bright we're going to have to wear shades.