Josh Marshall speculates on the Republican senators’ tactical reasoning:
Senate Republicans are following this course for three key reasons — first is payback against a major industrial union; second is payback against states like Michigan and Ohio who have been moving away from the GOP; third is the desire to advantage Japanese auto manufacturers who disproportionately do business in their southern states.
The first is obvious, the second is plausible but I don’t think he’s right about the third or, if he is, the Republican senators have gone renegade. The Japanese firms depend on an industrial base that requires the participation of the American manufacturers. If the American firms collapse and that base shrinks dramatically so too will the margins that the Japanese firms rely upon.