Sen. Lindsey Graham predicted a looming “rebellion” from rank-and-file GOP Senators and hoped Sen. Olympia Snowe’s departure would be a “wake-up call.”
DeMint said Wednesday that he was disappointed to hear of Snowe’s retirement. The South Carolinian said Snowe was never an obstacle to him and that they agree on fiscal issues. Snowe last year supported DeMint’s Cut, Cap and Balance budget legislation.
But Snowe voted with Democrats in 2010 for Wall Street regulatory reform, for multiple extensions of unemployment benefits and, in the Finance Committee, for the health care reform legislation. She frequently spoke with President Barack Obama and received agreements for her amendments with Reid in exchange for her filibuster-breaking votes.
“I think the idea of the beleaguered moderate is something she’s fostered in her mind,” one Republican aide said.
“It’s not easy being a moderate,” Bayh said of working in the Senate. “The two extremes make you feel like you’re undercutting them, and there’s this illusion that if you just refuse to compromise long enough, the other side will fold and you’ll get your way.”
A man from Kentucky attends a Tea Party Patriots rally on the West Front of the Capitol to protest the IRS' targeting of conservative political groups.
Roll Call has launched a new feature, Hill Navigator, to advise congressional staffers and would-be staffers on how to manage workplace issues on Capitol Hill. Please send us your questions — anything from office etiquette, to handling awkward moments, to what happens when the work life gets too personal. Submissions will be treated anonymously.
