The unity within the GOP throughout
both chambers of Congress has eroded over the course of the past two weeks with
the passage of a bill to raise the debt ceiling until February 7 and funded the
government of the United States until January 15, thus re-opening Washington (Bolton.)
Supported and championed by the senate minority Republican leader Mitch
McConnell (as well as the senate Democratic leader Harry Reid), the passage of
a bill that ultimately failed to undermine Affordable Health Care Act legislation
(Obamacare) and decrease federal borrowing , in which a handful conservative
Republicans wished to see happen, has created a decisive rift within the GOP
(Hawkings). Congressman Jeff Denham is in fact one of the Republican
politicians in Congress who has not sided with the Senate Republican minority
leader but rather taken a stance against his Republican Party by voting “no” to
this “temporary bill.
Wishing to see our federal
borrowing decrease and eventually cease as well as to dismantle legislation in the
Affordable Health Care Act to block it from being implemented throughout the
country, Congressman Denham essentially took a stance siding with the extreme
left, tea party conservatives (Denham). Serving in a district in which
Republicans do not hold the majority, but rather the minority, this decision to
not stand with party officials in Washington could have severe ramifications
and consequences for his re-election bid in 2014.
The bill in which re-opened the
government and raised the debt ceiling won the support of House Republicans who
are deemed to be vulnerable candidates for re-election in 2014 (Hawkings).
Through early poll results, 22 House Republicans are vulnerable to be upset by
Democrats in the next election cycle. Eighteen out these 22 candidates
supported the bill that passed into law this past week. Congressman Jeff Denham
was not one of these 18 House Republicans (Hawkings). The Republican party as a
whole earlier this year has raised 3 million dollars to support vulnerable
Republican candidates in their re- election bids, with Congressman Denham being
deemed one of those truly vulnerable candidates (Cahn).
One now must wonder and ask if
Congressman Denham will receive any aid from the Republican Party after voting
“no” on such crucial legislation in which the majority of his party, the
Republican Party, supported (Moody, Knox). As one of the four vulnerable
candidates for re-election who did not support the party vote, in a
congressional district made up of a majority of registered Democratic voters,
and now illustrating a clear schism amongst his own party and its leaders,
Congressman Denham is a prime member of the House to not receive aid and
support from his party in such a competitive district, California’s 10th.
In a time where voters are looking for unity, Congressman Denham is displaying
the exact opposite. Congressman Denham is now on notice.
Sources
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