Huffington Post has a post by Jen Bendery up about how many Republicans have openly said they will vote for a "clean" continuing resolution (here). By HuffPo's count, there are 21. Thus, according to Bendery:
As of Wednesday afternoon, the number of those Republicans hit 21 -- surpassing the magic 17 votes needed to pass a clean funding bill if all 200 Democrats stick together and team up with them.
[The number is now up to 22, as the article was updated since being posted.]
However, just as Peter King's "moderate" revolt ultimately got only a couple of backers, I think this number deserves the same skepticism. Follow over the curlicue.
Here's the list of Republican representatives cited in the HuffPo piece who are willing to vote for a clean CR, along with my approximation of the straightforwardness of the claim (you can read the article and make your own judgment):
Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.) Clean CR now
Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) Clean CR now
Rep. Jon Runyan (R-N.J.) Clean CR now
Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) If given the chance
Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) Clean CR now
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) Clean CR now
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) Clean CR now
Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) Clean CR now
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) Clean CR now
Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) Clean CR now
Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) If given the chance
Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) If given the chance
Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) If given the chance
Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) Clean CR now
Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.) Clean CR now
Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.) If given the chance
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) Clean CR now
Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.) Clean CR now
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) Clean CR now
Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) Clean CR now
Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) If given the chance
Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) Clean CR now
By my count, the number of Republican reps actually willing right now to vote for a clean CR, without any weaseling, is only 16.
A rep who says "I would vote for it if given a chance" is, of course, two-faced, because Boehner is not giving them the chance. Thus, they get to tell some people that they would vote for it, but still toe the party line and so don't lose favor. In addition, I doubt that these reps would be pushing very hard, if at all, for Boehner to bring the clean CR to the floor.
I enjoyed Frank LoBiondo's response to The Press of Atlantic City that he'll support "whatever gets a successful conclusion" to the shutdown and a clean funding bill "is one of those options."
But the best response in the post comes from Rodney Davis, whose spokesman Andrew Flach is reported to have said Davis isn't "going to speculate" on what bills may come up in the House and "will continue to vote for proposals brought to the floor that will fund the federal government." Pure weasel.
The more I see and hear of these shameless ciphers, the more I hate what they are doing. And my anger has driven me to take action:
Contributing to Dem campaigns
Contributing to OFA
Writing letters (emails) to editors
Writing letters (emails) to Representatives
Talking to friends and neighbors
I think we have the chance to drive our collective desire to repulse this radical right attack on our democracy straight through to the 2014 election and kick the Republican House out the door.