Attention media & Americans: Only the Republicans can shut down the government

[kpete]

"Republicans control the House, they control the Senate and they control the presidency. The government stays open if they want it to stay open and shuts down if they want it to shutdown." -- Pat Leahy

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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/1/16/1733165/-Attention-media-Only-the-Republicans-can-shut-down-the-government#view-story

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[spanone]

1. K&R...

[kentuck]

2. Yep!

Repubs are plotting how to blame a government shutdown on the Democrats?
They anticipate that all Democrats will stand firm on DACA.

They may try to have just enough Repubs vote against the budget bill so that it will fail by one single vote. One vote! They would try to win the PR battle by saying that if they had only gotten one Democrat to vote for the budget, the government would not shut down. Further they might argue that it is proof that Democrats do not want to work in a "bi-partisan" way.

That might be enough for their supporters but it would be pure politics. The fact that the Republicans have the majority in the House and Senate should be enough to dissuade them from any political shenanigans but it is doubtful. They like to play games. If they attempt such a scheme, it must be pointed out that they obviously do not have control over their caucus. If they cannot get even one vote to change to keep the government open, then they are as incompetent as their President.

[TheMastersNemesis]

3. Do You Expect Americans To Believe That. Average Man On The Street Probably Clueless.

I certainly hope most Americans believe that. But I fear there is too much apathy.

[Jim Lane]

4. It's not that simple.

The Republicans can't keep the government going all by themselves. If they present a continuing resolution, to fund the government while kicking the can down the road on all other issues, the Democrats in the Senate can filibuster it.

Back when we had the majorities and the White House, the shoe was on the other foot. I thought it was wrong for the Republican minority to try to use the threat of shutdown to extort a concession that they couldn't have achieved through the normal legislative process. They should instead have been willing to support a "clean" continuing resolution, embodying no changes.

I can see a principled basis for treating this situation differently. The expiration of CHIP and the ending of DACA are changes. There's an argument that a clean continuing resolution means one that defers consideration of those changes until later. Still, it's an oversimplification to say that the Republicans can prevent a shutdown, when the practicalities are that they can prevent a shutdown only by getting at least some Democrats to go along.