Peter Suderman on Edge Politics Versus Center Politics

Last
week, the House faced a momentary crisis as it attempted to pass a
$1.1 spending bill—the “cromnibus,” which combined 11
appropriations bills with a continuing resolution. Conservative
Republicans objected because the spending bill did not stop
President Obama’s executive action on immigration; liberal
Democrats, urged on by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) opposed a
tweak to derivatives regulation in the Dodd-Frank financial reform
law.

White House support for the bill helped overcome last-minute
Democratic objections, and the Republican leadership attempted to
quell dissatisfaction on the right. The bill passed in the House,
and moved on to the Senate, where it was backed by the Democratic
leadership. Over the weekend, it passed, but not before first
losing a chunk of Democratic support over the financial reform, and
then facing an unexpected procedural delay from Sen. Ted Cruz
(R-Texas), who forced a vote signaling opposition to Obama’s
immigration move before allowing the spending bill to pass.

In the end 21 Senate Democrats and 18 Republicans joined
together in opposition to the bill. The Democratic objectors
were among the party’s most liberal members; the Republicans some
of the GOP’s most conservative. And yet, despite their different
objections, they were, in some sense working together—to defeat the
bill and the wishes of the leadership of their own parties.

For years, writes Senior Editor Peter Suderman, we have heard
about increasing polarization in American politics and the growing
divide between the left and the right. But the spending bill vote
reveals another battle emerging—not the left versus the right, but
the edge versus the center.

View this article.