The Daily 202: In Mike Pence, conservatives trust
(emphasis not added)
By James Hohmann February 2 at 9:52 AM
THE BIG IDEA: Mike Pence is the un-Trump. Serving the first president in American history who has no prior political or military experience, the vice president’s background makes him well suited to sell Donald Trump’s policies. Perhaps because he has been in their shoes, he has already proven adept at connecting with and reassuring conservative members of Congress, governors and talk radio hosts.
The last few days have brought several illustrations of the important role he will likely play in the administration. Two Republican senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, came out yesterday against the nomination of Betsy DeVos to be secretary of education. That means, if Democrats stick together, she’ll end up with a 50-50 vote. That would make Pence the first vice president in U.S. history to use his tie-breaking vote to confirm a cabinet nominee.
-- Apart from his limited constitutional responsibilities, Trump is depending on Pence to be his clean-up guy on the Hill. During a private lunch with GOP senators on Tuesday, Pence sought to soothe concerns about the botched rollout of the refugee ban. He gave his word that the White House will do a better job of keeping members in the loop going forward, especially on major policy announcements.
This is an incredibly delicate moment in the Capitol. Republicans who are wise, including Mitch McConnell, do not want to invoke the nuclear option. Smart conservatives understand that changing the rules of the Senate to allow for a simple majority to confirm Trump’s Supreme Court nominee would set a disastrous precedent, which would invariably be used to put hyper-liberal justices onto the high court in future years. Even talking about going this route poisons the well and makes it that much harder to woo the eight moderate Democrats needed to clear the current 60-vote threshold.
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