Vulnerable Republicans nervous as they near 'toxic' vote found to be on 'thin ice': report

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) taunted congressional Republicans Monday morning over a key vote slated for next week, one that he argued was making “vulnerable” GOP lawmakers increasingly “nervous” over the potential fallout from voters.

That vote is on Republicans’ $72 billion spending package, which includes a $1 billion ask for security related to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, an ask that has made a growing number of GOP lawmakers uneasy.

“The demand is already on thin ice,” Punchbowl News reported Monday. “And Democrats are working to make it politically toxic for vulnerable Republicans ahead of November’s elections.”

While the vote on the spending package is expected on May 18, the Senate returns Monday night and the House reconvenes Tuesday, with Democrats already signaling their strategy through a Schumer-written memo obtained by Punchbowl News that outlines how the $1 billion request could be used to target vulnerable Republicans.

“With six months until the midterm elections, vulnerable Republicans are getting nervous and they should be,” Schumer wrote.

“The good news for them: They still have a chance to break rank with the President and work with Democrats to actually help the American people. But if they don't, Democrats will make the contrast clear to the American people: Ballroom Republicans are fighting for Trump. Democrats are fighting for you. The American people are watching. And in November, they will be voting.”

In its report, Punchbowl News described the inclusion of the $1 billion ask related to Trump’s White House ballroom project as the “biggest problem” for the $72 billion spending package, which is being proposed to be pushed using reconciliation, a process by which the Senate can move legislation with a simple majority and avoid the 60-vote threshold typically required to overcome the filibuster.

But with a growing number of GOP lawmakers “raising objections” to the $1 billion ask, coupled with Democrats’ new plan to weaponize it against them, securing enough votes to move the package forward may still prove difficult.