A few minutes ago Rubio took to Twitter to explain why Democrats are hypocrites on the wall and why they are simply trying to deny Trump a win:
1. This isn’t about wall,its about Dems denying POTUS a win
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 21, 2018
2. If border wall is immoral do they suggest we tear down the ones we already have?
3. On Wed the WH said they “open” to Senate bill. They should have just told us they opposed it BEFORE we wasted time voting on it
Excellent points. Even the one where he took swipe at the White House. I’ll get to that in a moment.
But he’s right about Democrats. This is really about keeping Trump from getting any momentum that could help him win in 2020.
He also justified why we need a wall and used TSA as an example:
Border wall ALONE wouldn’t stop illegal migration or drugs. But walls funnel traffic to monitored entry points
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 21, 2018
Airports have barriers to keep people from getting around TSA checkpoints. If we use barriers to keep air travel safe, why wouldn’t we use them to keep country safe?
Again, great points. It’s similar to what Trump said this morning in how technology is only effective in conjunction with a wall. You need both.
Now to the swipe Rubio took at the White House. There are multiple problems the Senate faces today, but a big one is attendance:
4) Senate meets today at noon et. 1st is a “motion to proceed” or to actually call up the Hse-altered bill to the floor. Since Hse/Senate are now ping-ponging different versions of same legislation back and forth, the Senate only needs a simple majority to bring that bill to flr
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 21, 2018
5) However, Fox is told there may now be a major attendance problem in the Senate. How a simple majority vote just to bring the bill up could be a problem with lots of absences.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 21, 2018
6) It’s possible the Senate may not even be able to do that with absences and a narrow 51-49 margin favoring Republicans.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 21, 2018
If the vote to proceed fails, we are really stuck as the Senate can’t even start debate on the House approved bill with wall funding.
13) Also, with the attendance problem, McConnell may not even have the votes for the nuclear option. However, if the Senate DID establish a new precedent, it’s possible DEMOCRATS could actually seize the floor and move bills against the GOP’s wishes.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 21, 2018
If Republicans can’t solve the attendance problem, they are screwed. Which points back to Rubio’s swipe at the WH. They had the attendance the other day when they passed a bill without funding. If Trump had taken a stand at that point, attendance wouldn’t even be an issue.
Corker is the main one I know of who balked on the idea of coming back. There could be others, but at the moment I don’t have their names. But even if he does come back they still have a FLAKE problem. He’s retiring and he’d probably LOVE to go out as a Democrat rock star in being the one to deny Trump the wall.
My guess is that with the pressure so immense today, Corker will head back. Attendance won’t end up being the big issue. But RINOs will be and Pence will probably have to be there all day.