Sen. Lisa Murkowski is once again getting national attention for breaking ranks with the Republican Party. This time it’s over President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration over the southern border. For having “the strength to announce opposition” to it, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank listed her as one of the few survivors of the critically endangered species of “Principled Republicans.”<\/p>\n
I’d expand that to include principled Democrats. And argue we’ve reached this point because the base of both parties also prize loyalty over principle.<\/p>\n
The border wall story is a perfect example. Republicans often accused President Barack Obama of usurping congressional authority. In this case, Trump’s emergency declaration is challenging the appropriation power invested in Congress by the Constitution.<\/p>\n
[Opinion: Sen. Sullivan’s subtle budget advice]<\/a><\/ins><\/p>\n More than 20 Republican senators had expressed serious reservations over it. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was one of them.<\/p>\n But after House Democrats passed a resolution denying Trump the emergency use of funds to build the border wall, only Murkowski and Sens. Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, and Rand Paul said they’d vote in favor of it. McConnell, who had acquiesced to Trump before the resolution was passed, appears to have gotten the rest to fall in line and oppose it.<\/p>\n [Murkowski knocks Green New Deal’s impossible timeline]<\/a><\/ins><\/p>\n Now let’s look at how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats operate the same way.<\/p>\n Last week the House passed a bill requiring background checks for all firearm sales, including purchases being made from private citizens. The title – Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 – masked its partisan reality. The California Democrat who introduced it had 232 co-sponsors, only five of which were Republicans. Just eight Republicans joined the 232 Democrats who voted to pass it. The nays included two Democrats and 188 Republicans.<\/p>\n What was more bipartisan occurred before it was passed. Republicans submitted a motion that 26 Democrats supported. It would have added language requiring law enforcement officials to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if there was evidence the firearm purchase was being made by an illegal immigrant. Pelosi responded with a demand right out of McConnell’s playbook. “Vote no. Just vote no because a vote yes is to give leverage to the other side, to surrender the leverage on the floor of the House.”<\/p>\n