01-18-2018, 07:04 PM
(01-18-2018, 06:08 PM)Duchess Wrote:
Why are the Republicans bleating about the Democrats shutting down the government when it's all under Republican control?
...and I heard Paul Ryan say if the Democrats want to hurt the military it's on them. Oh for fuckssake. Nothing changes with the military, you'd think someone in his position would know that.
Strategy is why. It sucks, but that's what the finger pointing is about. Neither party wants to get blamed for the shutdown ahead of this year's midterms.
But, I'm not sure the impact on midterm elections isn't overstated. The 2013 shutdown was generally attributed to the Republicans, and yet they kicked ass in the 2014 midterms. I remember being surprised by that.
Anyway, Ryan has enough of a Republican majority in the House that he doesn't need a single Democratic vote to pass the funding bill and keep the government running (including checks to military personnel).
However, McConnell needs at least 9 Dems in Senate to vote for it, even if he gets every Republican senator on board. And, he doesn't have every Republican senator on board.
Republican senators who've worked hard for years on end to get reasonable bi-partisan immigration reform (including DACA) legislated seem pretty pissed that Trump flip-flopped on his public proclamation that he'd sign any bi-partisan bill they handed him last week, pulling the rug out from under them after Ann Coulter and some other hard-righters lost their shit.
There are also some Democrats from red states who are up for re-election this year. Those representing states with low immigrant populations may well vote for the GOP refunding bill.
We'll see.