Heritage expert: Challenges ahead for GOP-led Congress

Tommy Binion of The Heritage Foundation joined Boston Herald Radio’s “Morning Meeting” program yesterday to talk about challenges for Republicans in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville, Va.

Q: With everybody on break, what happens when they come back?

A: They’ve got a spending deadline on Sept. 30. They have got to, just got to, return back to Obamacare repeal, that’s a political imperative. They’ve got the debt ceiling to raise by the first week of October. The White House is saying they want to work on tax reform in September. They’ve got the Federal Aviation Administration authorization expiring. They’ve got the Children’s Health Care Insurance program, Hillarycare, remember that, that’s expiring. And they’ve got the National Flood Insurance program that’s expiring. All of that. That’s huge, that’s six months worth of work. All of that in the month of September where they will be in session for 12 days.

Q: So the president tweeted ... a swipe at two Republican senators who voted to repeal Obamacare. Is that helpful?

A: We’ll see. The conventional wisdom says absolutely not, but this president seems to be able to get away with that type of thing, especially on Twitter. He’s done it before and has gotten away with it. So no, it’s not helpful, but let’s also keep in mind that those senators they’ve got big Republican bases in their states and a lot of Trump fans in their states.

Q: How much do you think what happened this week is going to overshadow when people come back?

A: I think it will take over to some extent what’s happening here in Washington. One thing is there are Confederate statues in the U.S. Capitol and it’s likely that people make an issue out of that . ... I do expect that this Confederate monument issue could be something that halts progress, even on a must-pass bill.

Q: Do you think the focus will be on the statues as opposed to — it seems the media has been pushing Republicans to denounce the president’s statements.

A: Well I think it’s both. I think the reason that the left will bring up the statues is to try to bait Republicans into this game where they’re having to defend recognizing history and then they can call them racists ... this is one of those issues that serves to divide us in some pretty nasty rhetorical situations. It’s really sad, because I think all of us love and respect each other and this piece of our political discourse doesn’t reflect that.