Race to replace McConnell heats up over response to Democratic ‘show’ votes

The race to become the next Senate Republican leader is heating up as Republican senators are divided over how to counter Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (DN.Y.) messaging offensive on women’s reproductive rights , an important issue in the 2024 elections.

The floor strategy debate has become an opportunity for Republican senators running to replace Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) to showcase their leadership and strategic skills at the Republican conference.

Senate Republicans face a difficult decision next week when Schumer forces them to vote on a bill to protect access to IVF this was written in a way that few if any GOP lawmakers could support without significant changes.

Schumer is bringing the bill to the floor even though he knows Republicans oppose it, so that Democrats can portray Republicans as extremists on women’s health issues and to highlight the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s overturning of the nation’s right to abortion in 2022.

He used the same tactic earlier this week when forced a vote on advancing the Right to Contraception Law. That bill is sponsored by Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Republicans have said it is full of poison pill provisions.

It failed 51 to 39, with just two Republicans — Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voting with Democrats to allow the bill to move forward.

Senate Republican leader John Thune (SD), who is seen as a frontrunner to become the next leader, argued to colleagues that Republicans should block Democratic bills from reaching floor debate.

He says voting to begin debates on these bills still wouldn’t guarantee Senate Republicans the chance to change them. He argues that would only delay the process and allow Democrats to inflict maximum political damage, according to Republican senators.

“These are show votes. We’ve seen show votes before, and historically the practice of show votes is to vote against the show votes and call them what they are,” said a Senate Republican aide familiar with the internal debate. “The story of the votes displayed is to call them what they are, to point out that they are political votes that were not designed to become law.”

Thune is expected to argue again next week that Senate Republicans should block a motion to proceed with a debate on Democrats’ in vitro fertilization legislation.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida), who is also running for McConnell’s seat, however, is criticizing Senate GOP leadership for not coming up with a plan to give Republican senators the option to vote to begin armed debate with a clearly defined strategy to counter the message.

“We know [Schumer] there will be these votes for a show. We know he’s going to take contraceptives, we know he’s going to have in vitro fertilization. What I think is important is that we all understand what our message is,” Scott told The Hill in an interview Thursday.

“It is important not just to say they are wrong, we must say what we are for. So you can do this in several ways. You can make bills, you can make amendments, you can make resolutions, you can make declarations, you can do all these things,” he said. “We should get out in front and do this in a unified way, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Scott introduced a resolution expressing support for Americans who start families through in vitro fertilization.

Encourages clinical research to improve outcomes for parents seeking to overcome infertility and supports state legislative and regulatory action to establish ethical and safety standards for medical facilities offering IVF treatments.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a third-party candidate in the race to succeed McConnell, is urging his colleagues to come together and vote as a group, whatever path they decide to take. His comments were interpreted by some Republican senators as support for colleagues who want to participate in a debate on women’s reproductive rights and try to change Democratic bills.

At a Senate Republican luncheon on Tuesday, Collins, a prominent moderate Republican, asked colleagues to vote to begin debate on the Right to Contraception Act, arguing that it would give Republicans a chance to offer their own amendments and retract the Democratic bill as extremist, according to senators familiar with the meeting.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), an avowed conservative, agreed with Collins in that meeting and endorsed the idea of ​​voting to begin debate so that Republicans would have a chance to introduce amendments and ask for votes on the floor.

“We are completely unprepared about this contraceptive law. We had this discussion at lunch,” Johnson told The Hill. “Susan Collins said, ‘Why don’t we look at this project and then point out all the flaws?’ I said this makes sense to me, but it has to be a coordinated effort.

“We need leadership here,” he said. “We will pass the bill, we will offer amendments that highlight these abuses, and then when those amendments fail or are not even voted on, then we will withdraw the bill.”

Johnson cited problems he saw in the Democratic bill, such as an overly broad definition of contraception and what he called “attacks on religious freedom.”

He said Republicans didn’t have a chance to have a substantive debate because Senate Republican leaders didn’t come up with a plan to fight back.

“That would have been my approach, but it would require leadership and our leadership is completely mute on this,” he said, referring to the fact that McConnell has said little about how to proceed and has left the strategy to Thune.

Johnson said he was not satisfied with Thune’s advice to vote against the bill’s initial debate because it allows Democrats to claim that Republicans do not support protecting contraceptive rights.

“This will provide a victory for Democrats here,” he said of Thune’s strategy.

Johnson predicted that most media coverage of the Senate vote would highlight Republican opposition to the contraception bill and that most Americans would miss the nuances of the political debate.

Cornyn did not endorse a course of action when he spoke at the same lunch, but said passing the bill would only be an option if the entire GOP conference joined hands and voted together to begin debate, according to a source familiar with the matter. with the discussion.

Some Republicans have privately complained about Cornyn’s approach to the issue.

A Republican senator who requested anonymity said Cornyn’s openness to voting to begin debate on the Right to Contraception Act shows he is “out of touch” with pro-life voters.

“This shows how John Cornyn is out of step with conservatives and pro-life [voters.] Cornyn is strongly advocating a yes vote on this bill,” the Republican senator said. “This would require sterilization medications to be available to minors. This would require mifepristone in all states. This is crazy.

“He said, ‘We should get into this account.’ It was Thune who stood up and said, ‘We’re not going to get any amendment votes. Do we want to spend weeks talking about contraception?’” said the senator.

“Cornyn needs conservative votes to be elected leader, clearly…. I don’t know how he’s going to pull it off,” the source said, describing the conservatives in the room as “wide-eyed” after Cornyn spoke.

A source familiar with the discussion rejected that characterization of the meeting, saying Cornyn was not debating Thune on strategy. The source said the Texas senator merely raised a question about the importance of unity for the conference to think about.

So far, Thune is winning the floor strategy debate, as the majority of the Senate GOP conference voted with him on Wednesday to block the motion to advance contraceptive legislation.

A second Senate Republican senator who requested anonymity said the differing opinions Thune and Cornyn presented at the GOP plenary strategy conference “struck me” like a contest for the top leadership job.

The senator said Cornyn “was saying we might have a chance to really reshape something here so that it reflects our voices.”

“I just looked at the votes and the only person who voted for it so far was Susan,” the source said as voting was wrapping up.

The senator said Thune has an advantage in the race as current whip.

“It’s like being a starter,” the source added.