Newly reelected House Speaker John Boehner has his hands full getting his caucus back into line, but he's not setting a very good example.
New York Republicans representative Peter King almost led a coup this week when Boehner refused to allow debate on aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy, and outside the chamber, he joined New Jersey governor Chris Christie and New York's Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo is lambasting Boehner and other Republicans for standing in the way of relief to their constituents.
But after agreeing to raise tax rates on Americans making over $450,000 a year, Republicans couldn't stomach $60 billion in relief monies, at least not on the same day.
On Friday they relented, authorizing $9.7 billion to fund flood insurance programs, two months after the storm hit.
Usually, disaster relief is a non-issue for wither party, but these are not usual times.
The loyalties of House Republicans are even more scattered than during the last presidential primaries.
Former vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan joined conservative members of the Tea Party caucus in opposing the hurricane relief bill, though it still passed overwhelmingly, so the move was more of a protest vote than any kind of real obstinacy. They'll be able to tell their constituents they tried to save money without actually having to deny aid to storm victims.
Boehner faced his own protest vote in his bid for reelection as House Speaker. He needed 214 votes, and he got 220. Once Republicans saw Boehner would eventually get the votes he needed, they started jumping ship, casting votes for anyone and everyone other than Boehner in an effort to show their independence without actually affecting anything.
But protest votes will carry much more weight in the coming months, as the House is integral to raising the debt ceiling, a battle that promises to be a fight both between and within the two parties.
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