Republicans resigned to being the villains in the inevitable government shutdown
Washington is reaching a consensus: the government will shut down in 10 days — and Republicans will bear the brunt of voter disgust over it.
With House GOP leadership on Wednesday again showing little progress in moving a stopgap funding bill to prevent a shutdown, officials have begun a two-pronged effort to prepare for a shutdown that seems less avoidable every day.
There is the official side of government, where the Biden administration’s Office of Management and Budget has been working with agencies to make contingency plans for when funding runs out. And there is the political arena, where party operatives are focused on a different goal: inflicting maximum pain on their Republican adversaries and seeking to pin them with blame for an interruption in federal services and paychecks for government workers.
While both sides will inevitably throw blame at the other, Republicans are feeling a keen sense of apprehension that their party will suffer badly should a shutdown transpire.
“We always get the blame,” said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), a senior appropriator. “Name one time that we’ve shut the government down and we haven’t got the blame.”
The answer is in his question: “Name one time that WE'VE shut the government down and we haven’t got the blame.”
"Every time I do something I get blamed for it! How is that fair at all?! Why doesn't someone ELSE get blamed now and then for things I do" -Simpson (R) probably
Yeah, except Democrats used to catch the blame all the time when McConnell filibustered something. It's part of their strategy to do things and have the other party get blamed for it.
The tactic was for Republicans to sabotage government, and then use the failure they caused as a talking point about how government is useless and gets in the way. They could then rally people around the idea that government is an enemy that needs to be eliminated. But I think people are wising up to that strategy. There have been a lot of high profile problems recently that can all be linked to deregulation and rolling back government oversight.
Sounds like an onion quote.
You’d think a ‘Pub, of all people, would know that giving to someone who hasn’t earned it is socialist. As staunch capitalists, ‘Pubs earned all the blame and they can keep it.
Then stop doing this shit, Mike…it’s not rocket science.
This is a terrific selfawarewolves quote.
"Name one time that we did X and we haven't got the blame for doing X."
"Doctor, doctor, it hurts when I do this."
And if it wasn't their fault ( in the instance refusal to collaborate with the other side) they wouldn't always get blamed.
Y'all the cishet white conservative concept of responsibility is wild. The idea that the problem isn't your actions, it's that people notice your actions and that it's you doing them is Narcissistic Abuse 101.
This whole thing is unbelievably stupid. Past shutdowns were also stupid, but the Republicans shutting down the government had something they wanted (entitlement cuts, funding for the border wall, whatever). Here there is no unified demand, it's just a dozen or so Republicans who were elected to burn it all down keeping their campaign promises. So why not just ignore them? Because McCarthy will lose his speakership if he so much as thinks about a bipartisan compromise.
There's no game plan here, no options, no strategy. For the dozen holdouts, the plan is the government shuts down until Biden and Senate Dems cave and agree to slash government spending by 10%, fund the border wall, and give the middle finger to Ukraine. That's not happening, ever. And they know that, these aren't serious demands, this is just an attempt to burn it all down but disguised as a principled position on government spending. McCarthys dumb plan was to pass a super partisan continuing resolution to keep the government funded for a month, which the Senate strip it of all the conservative junk and send it back to the house, and then ??? What conservatives would accept that??? We'd be right back in the same situation we're in now. But the holdouts won't even agree to that dumb strategy.
There's a longshot where all Dems and a handful of Republicans could sign a motion to vacate forcing a clean CR onto the floor, but 1) procedurally that takes a full month to do, and 2) you need Republicans willing to sign on bucking both McCarthy and the base. Even if this scenario saves the day, the government will still shut down for a month or more, and again it's only a continuing resolution so we're back in this same clusterfuck in another 30 days after it passes.
The only realistic way out of this is McCarthy does the right thing, works with Democrats to find a bipartisan solution, and stops listening to the derangement caucus in his party. He'll probably lose the speakership, he'll probably lose it no matter what happens anyway so maybe just do the right thing?
As I'm sitting here today, it feels like we're in for a looong shutdown, not because Republicans are dug into a demand, but because they have no demands at all. You elect people to burn it all down, and that's exactly what they are going to do.
Yes, this is the big difference this time around, previously the threat of being blacklisted from the RNC/CPAC plus local obligations (contracts/ect) falling through. This time though we have people outside that establishment that want the government to shutdown. They want this to happen and to hurt, the only good move here is McCarthy working with Dems.
I think instead of government shutdowns from now on we should have government lockups. Congress can't come to an agreement? Everyone in Congress goes to jail till they sort it out. Bologna and cheese sandwiches on white bread with water three times a day and a 6'x8' cell for every two members of Congress.
All other government employees keep getting paid and keep doing their jobs but Congress goes jail to sort it's shit out.
Like time out for kids.
Pope selection style. Watch the smoke
Ehh... hard for them to negotiate by yelling through cell doors, no?
I'd settle for locking them in the house floor until they've got it figured out.
Yo at least let them have the grape flavored "nutrient packs" while you're at it..
I'm a fan of "if government spending is so out of control" then when you vote "no"on funding the government, the immediate action is that all of your financial privileges as a congressmen are suspended. No pay, no travel allowance, no health insurance, not even a fucking parking pass. And you stay that way until you vote yes...on the NEXT government funding bill. Put your money where your mouth is.
They are always eager to cut funding for social programs that are not their pay or benefits. Suspicious?
"The people single-handedly responsible for shutting down the government - causing economic upheaval and strife - have resigned to being labelled the 'bad guys.'"
Story at 11.
Republicans are shutting down the government yet again because they know that they can reliably use it to extract concessions from Democrats. And Democrats keep confirming this.
👨🚀🔫👨🚀
“A government of the people, by the people, for the people” must really leave a sour aftertaste in many American mouths these days. I dont envy you guys. All the best from a European nobody.
You had me at 'Republicans resigned', then bitterly disappointed me.
I don't understand. If your government can shut down without the country falling apart... what are you actually paying em for?
If you can go a few days without food and not die, that means you don't need to eat at all. Obviously.
Fuck that, I can't go one morning without food!
No, you can.
Tried, am ded now 😡
It creates stunning damage, that would indeed lead to the country falling apart. The only reason we weather them is basically "you always stop this shit soonish, so we can just rob peter to pay paul for a bit with debt for the really important things."
An actual, no shit goverment shutdown because they literally have no money and no debt would shatter our nation.
Do you think the government's primary function is to operate a laser that keeps the sun from crashing into the country? You see, a community of people come together and say they could do things more efficiently and have a better life if they all cooperate, so they form a "government" and that government does things for the benefit of those people. In a shutdown, some of those things are deemed essentially and keep happening, like law enforcement and coast guard and border patrol and food inspection and air traffic control. The people doing those jobs just don't get paid! Hooray!
Other things stop working, like FCC complaints, or social security checks, or the IRS help line, or parks, and certain people that help with criminal investigations, or the building of semiconductor plants intended to help the US compete with China, or visa applications, or school lunches for students, or the collection of statistical reports on the US economy that busiensses rely on, and so on. When these things don't happen, life for Americans gets worse. You are quite correct that the country will not immediately burst into flames. All that will happen is that millions of people will suffer! What do we even pay the government for, amiright guys?!
You're right, you don't understand.
Thanks.
🤷