海角大神

This is the week for GOP 鈥渕essaging bills鈥� in Congress 鈥� bills that defund Obamacare and Planned Parenthood and that roll back carbon emissions regulations. They won鈥檛 become law, but unlike past attempts to strike at President Obama鈥檚 priorities, they are expected to make it to his desk for a rare veto.

To some, that may seem like a difference without much significance. Senate minority leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada describes these 鈥渟how votes鈥� as a 鈥渢otal waste of time.鈥� But not to Republicans. The moves hold political advantages for them 鈥� even if some observers say they could come back to hurt the GOP, or even the greater body politic.

Republicans see the votes as a prime opportunity to excite the base as the country enters an election year. They show Republicans directly confronting the president, getting legislation to his desk that he doesn鈥檛 like 鈥� something they weren鈥檛 able to do when Democrats controlled the Senate last year.

Republicans 鈥渃an go home and say, 鈥楾his is what we did, and the reason for the failure isn鈥檛 that we didn鈥檛 try, it鈥檚 that the president has a veto. So guys, go win the presidential election, and then some of these things that we want can happen,鈥� 鈥� says Rep. Tom Cole (R) of Oklahoma.

But others view the legislation as fodder for Democrats to take aim at. They wonder whether messaging bills that are of no practical consequence simply turn off voters and underscore the view that Congress can鈥檛 get anything done.

Indeed, many GOP supporters themselves have been frustrated by the party's inability to get things done. In last year鈥檚 midterms, Republicans ran on promises to repeal the Affordable Care Act and roll back regulations such as carbon emissions at power plants. Voters gave them control of the Senate and strengthened their hand in the House 鈥� but nothing seemed to change.

Tea party supporters such as Sylda Nichols, a retiree in Kansas, have seen no difference between a GOP-controlled Senate and one led by Democrats. She and her tea party friends told the Monitor this fall that they want Republicans to fight much harder 鈥� to take bills to the president even if he vetoes them.

Her frustration, and that of countless other conservatives, have helped fuel the GOP presidential candidacies of 鈥渙utsiders鈥� including Donald Trump and Ben Carson.

Even with control of the Senate, it鈥檚 been tough for Republicans to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to avoid blocking action on most bills. But they are expected to do that on Obamacare and Planned Parenthood legislation on Thursday, using a rare procedure known as 鈥渂udget reconciliation鈥� that requires only a majority vote.

This week, the House passed a rollback of carbon emissions regulations at power plants, following recent Senate approval. They were able to do that through the 1996 Congressional Regulatory Review Act, which also requires only a majority vote.

The utility of these bills for Republicans 鈥渋s that they are actually doing things the base wants them to do,鈥� says Jennifer Duffy of the independent Cook Political Report. But she sees a potential danger for the GOP.

The measures could hurt Republicans in the general election, Ms. Duffy says. Democrats will say Republicans want to deny nearly 17 million Americans health care (they鈥檙e already saying that and are referring to the number of Americans who have signed up for insurance under Obamacare). And the Planned Parenthood legislation 鈥済ives Democrats a wide door to bring up the 鈥榳ar on women.鈥� 鈥�

A Rasmussen poll last month shows that despite broad dissatisfaction with the Affordable Care Act (only 11 percent say the law should stay as it is), half of voters want Congress to go through the law and fix it piece by piece. Only 37 percent think Congress and the president should repeal it and start over.

Polling also shows the difficulty of the GOP approach on the other issues. In a September poll by the Pew Research Center, 60 percent of Americans want to maintain funding for Planned Parenthood. And a New York Times/CBS News poll published this week indicates that 63 percent of Americans support limiting greenhouse gases from US power plants.

Republican pollster Ed Goeas is unconcerned. Public opinion favors Republicans when these issues are considered more generally. 鈥淔rustration with regulations runs across party lines,鈥� he says, and the population is unhappy with Obamacare for not delivering what was promised. On Planned Parenthood, 鈥渢heir negatives are through the roof.鈥�

Mr. Goeas also suggests that the messaging bills might help assuage the GOP voter frustration that鈥檚 stoking the presidential campaigns of Republican outsiders. The debate becomes more about what Republicans are trying to do and Democrats trying to stop, and less about Republicans not getting things done.

Over the years, both parties have engaged in show votes, with Democrats, for example, trying to put Republicans on the record on things like the minimum wage.

鈥淪o much of what Congress does, particularly in times of split government, is basically just posturing,鈥� says Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia鈥檚 Center for Politics in Charlottesville.

If a party can improve the strength of its posturing, maybe that鈥檚 politically helpful, he says. But, he adds, 鈥淚 can鈥檛 imagine that it鈥檚 good for the overall reputation of either party, or major figures of either party, to consistently over-promise to their supporters and then under-deliver.鈥�