Tipsheet

Schumer in 2013: Democrats Would Never Be So Reckless as to Shut Down the Government Over, Say, Immigration

You already knew that both parties are trading hypocritical barbs over the current 'Schumer Shutdown,' but this clip from the archives is really quite special and simply too delicious not to share immediately.  Back when Republicans pushed a flawed shutdown strategy over Obamacare in 2013, a certain Senator from New York pronounced himself aghast.  The GOP's disgraceful 'hostage taking' was nothing short of "governmental chaos," he said during an ABC News appearance.  His own party would never go to such radical extremes, even over an issue in which they were deeply emotionally invested, he assured viewers.  Guess which issue he picked to illustrate his holier-than-thou 'for instance'?  It's okay to laugh:


This made me chuckle even harder than Steny Hoyer's amusing House floor fail on Friday.  The simple fact is that Shutdown Chuck's caucus has launched a 44-vote filibuster against a spending bill that would have kept the federal government open.  The measure did not include a single provision that Democrats actually oppose.  They've chosen to shut down the government because the spending bill did not include unrelated elements regarding immigration policy.  It's not a popular gambit:


And even when the issue of immigration is isolated in the survey, people don't believe that obstructing the construction of a border wall is worth leaving the DREAMers' fate unresolved:


Five Senate Democrats crossed the aisle to vote for the GOP government funding bill, but 60 votes are required to end the Democratic filibuster.  Reports are starting to leak out that rank-and-file elected Democrats and aides are growing more and more concerned about their party's shutdown adventure, wondering if leadership has an "exit strategy" and recognizing that shutting down the government on behalf of illegal immigrants may not be an ingenious maneuver:


But Democrats' ill-conceived, unpopular shutdown is all about DACA and immigration.   I'll leave you with Mitch McConnell vowing to force vote after vote to end the Schumer Shutdown and reopen the government.  It's up to the Senate minority: