We’re less than 10 hours away from a government shutdown. In years past, Democrats have warned against a shutdown. How it would harm citizens, how the credit markets would get disrupted, how it breeds cynicism in government, how it’s shameful, and how it costs us billions, if not trillions, of dollars. So, why are they so hell-bent on shutting it down?
Senate Democrats then: nothing should stand in the way of passing CHIP funding, short-term CRs are irresponsible, DACA deserves serious debate
— Mattie Duppler (@MDuppler) January 19, 2018
Senate Ds now: hold CHIP funding hostage for a 72 hour CR so we can cram down a DACA deal over the weekend
In 2013, when the debt ceiling was being negotiated, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said it would be an exercise in bad government to tie immigration reform to matters of the budget. It would breed chaos. That’s what Shutdown Chuck said in an interview on ABC’s This Week at the time. Now, everything is being held up over an immigration resolution. Prior to Christmas, the Democrats were clear that FISA, Children’s Health Insurance Program, and DACA needed to be addressed, and that they would not vote for any more spending bills until that happened—even if they were clean bills. FISA is going to be reauthorized, CHIP is funded for six years in this resolution that the House passed last night. DACA’s enforcement deadline doesn’t hit until March. It’s part of the six-month enforcement delay the Trump administration announced in September when they decided to wind down the Obama-era program due to its constitutionally questionable standing. It’s quite simple. Republicans want to keep the government open, they have a funding bill, they want to pass it and then work on an immigration resolution.
Speaker Ryan said last night that Democrats don’t oppose the House funding measure, but are holding the government hostage over immigration. Democrats have acted like the keepers of government in these battles, saying how irresponsible it is to close the government, so the Republican National Committee decided to play their greatest hits on a loop. Starring Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Liz Warren, and Claire McCaskill, Shutdown Theater Part XII: The Great Hypocrisy is out. And I’ve heard the reviews are tremendous. The best reviews to ever be written in the history of reviews; that I can tell you. What everyone is missing is that the Democrats actually want this to happen. They want this bomb to go off. So, on top of voting against middle class tax relief and betting against the American worker with their opposition to Trump’s tax reform package, they also want to torpedo Capitol Hill as well. The messaging war over this is about to begin, and the RNC has a good initial salvo in this upcoming battle.
Ryan: I..want people to understand that Senate Democrats do not oppose anything that is in this bill..They are just holding this critical funding hostage for a deal on a completely unrelated immigration issue.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 19, 2018
Let's see. D's do not object to anything in the CR. The CR in fact contains D priorities. D's are demanding something (DACA) that R's have said they are going to do anyway. We still have six weeks to a DACA deadline. And oh, there is no DACA bill yet to vote on. #SchumerShutdown
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) January 19, 2018
***
Flashback: Remember When Shutdown Chuck and Trump were friends (sort of). Both of their fathers were builders too; he said so in his 2006 appearance on The Apprentice. Too bad they can't hash out a deal (via HuffPo):
Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has vowed to challenge President-elect Donald Trump, and he’s said, “He’s not my friend.”
But it was another matter when the New York Democrat hosted contestants from “The Apprentice” for a breakfast at Washington’s historic Hay-Adams Hotel in 2006.
[…]
“His father and my grandfather were builders together in Brooklyn,” Schumer told the Season 5 contestants. “Even when he was much younger, you knew he was going to go places.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member