Just when it seemed Congress couldn’t get any more intractable, couldn’t embody any more of the “do nothing” brand it so ponderously promotes, it now appears conservatives are ready, willing and able to eat their own in the effort to keep certain less conservative members of Congress from pushing agendas that some believe veer far too far from the right.

In fact, certain “outside groups” have deemed some of those inside Congress, particularly those in leadership positions (think John Boehner or Eric Cantor), are simply not hardcore enough to be running the show.





NPR reports that the House planned a vote this week on HR 1549, a GOP bill that would nip and tuck certain aspects of the President’s healthcare bill, moving funds from one element of the plan to pay for another that needs funding, in fact, one of the most controversial parts of the bill: pre-existing conditions. It was noted that this shuffling of funds was designed partially to soften the GOP’s image as miserly curmudgeons who don’t care about sick people, with Eric Cantor (R-VA) commenting that the added bonus of the bill was that it would make Democrats who voted against it look like the curmudgeons themselves:

“That’s not something I think they can go home and be proud of,” Cantor said. “We’re trying to find solutions here.”

Which is always so nice to hear from Republicans in Congress!

And it was a win/win bill, right? It sounded good, it seemed like good policy, it would make the House Republicans look good, dammit, and their brand could use some burnishing. But there was one small thing about the scenario that wasn’t good at all: conservatives did NOT like it. Real conservatives, hard core conservatives; the kind of conservatives who think Boehner and Cantor’s ‘conservative credentials’ are sorely lacking. They thought the idea of moving money from any aspect of Obamacare to any other aspect of a bill they hate was just plain silly. Or, as Tea Party Rep. Justin Amash from Michigan put it:

“That’s a nonstarter for me.”

But that’s not big news. The in-fighting between GOP factions, between the “regular” conservatives and the Tea Party conservatives is nothing if not predictable these days. But a trend that is news when it comes to GOP turf wars is the growing and pervasive influence on actual legislation that is being wielded by outside groups, particularly those who helped get some of those Tea Party freshman into Congress and are now micromanaging the action from the gallery.

When it came specifically to a vote on this “moving money” bill within Obamacare, two of those outside groups got very busy. The Club For Growth, a group whose mission statement is “economic freedom” (translated to mean, one assumes, economic freedom from offering any care, compassion or social services to our less economically free fellow Americans), issued a “key vote alert,” urging their “members” (i.e., the ones they supported right into Congress) to vote “no.” Another, Heritage Action For America (an offshoot of the larger Heritage Foundation), also made clear a “no vote” was expected by their “affiliates.”

And they got that vote. Their players who have seats in the House of Representatives did their duty and the bill now has a “15% chance of being enacted,” though Cantor says he hasn’t given up. Odd, isn’t it, to consider a Republican pushing to get a healthcare reform bill passed in Congress despite the pressure from conservatives?

At issue is the notion that tangential forces are getting more and more brazen in their manipulation of government legislation, as well as the elected officials whose responsibility should be, in fact, to their constituents. Influence peddling has existed as long as government itself, but it seems the puppet-mastering of late finds no need for pretense or hiding behind the scenes. It’s proudly and loudly in the open, and clear that those who make it to Congress with the support of certain conservative groups are required to sell their soul for that right and privilege, making them beholden, then, NOT to their constituents, but to their “financiers.” The corruption, or certainly the potential for corruption, is not subtle.

But while Americans at large watch these proceedings with knitted brown and great concern, Republicans continue to argue amongst themselves as to just how far they want this influence to go. Some believe it’s possible for harder right groups and the “lesser conservatives” in the House to work together to productively make laws that promote and protect conservative ideals. From NPR:

“A lot of these seem to be self-inflicted wounds,” says Dan Holler of Heritage Action. “There is this inherent tension between the Republican Party and the conservative principled base. And a lot of that time that tension plays out on the House floor in these sort of bills.” Often, that means these conservative groups are working at cross-purposes with Boehner and others in leadership. Holler says it doesn’t have to be that way — they could be allies, if only the speaker would push conservative policy. “The proper way to look at that question [is] it’s not necessarily what outside groups are doing that’s counterproductive to the leadership agenda — it’s why the leadership agenda is divorced from what their party wants,” Holler says.

So House leadership does have the power in their hands, at least according to Mr. Holler… but if only they get conservative enough. Then everyone can play together nicely and get the work of (the conservative) government done without internecine bloodshed.

We’ll see just how willing leadership is to step-in-time to the beat of that particular drum. But while Boehner, Cantor and others are weighing their options, the Club for Growth has started a new project called Primary My Congressman, which is working to replace moderate congress members with even more conservative ones.

Which leaves those “moderate” Republicans caught between the rock of their liberal opponents and the hard place of a GOP faction that wants to pull this country as far right as possible. Will the electorate let them? The bigger question is, will the Republicans?

Follow Lorraine Devon Wilke on Twitter, Facebook and Rock+Paper+Music; for her archive at Addicting info click here; details and links to her other work: www.lorrainedevonwilke.com.