While Democrats frequently bail out Republicans before they can shut down the government, this should not be one of those times.
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There is only one thing Republicans love more than shutting down the government: shutting down the government and blaming Democrats for it.
In the next couple of weeks, they may get to do both because, once again, the United States is about to run out of money.
If a temporary funding deal, a so-called continuing resolution (CR), isn’t reached by March 14, then the government is going to shut down and a wide range of services deemed to be nonessential will no longer be provided.
Of course, convincing Americans that Democrats are somehow at fault for a shutdown is a tall order — even for today’s GOP (Gaslighting Other Persons), a Trump-dominated party whose success is largely built on propaganda and lies.
Essentially, here is the case that Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and congressional Republicans have to make: “In November, you, the American people, gave us a sweeping mandate to completely change this country. In what was a massive landslide victory, you handed us total control of Washington. And, although we have been trying to dismantle the government since then (while Democrats have been obstructing us at every turn), when we can’t come to an agreement among ourselves on how much to screw taxpayers, it will be the Democrats’ fault when the government shuts down on March 14.”
To make things even trickier, they will have to pull this off while fighting with each other. In the House, fiscal hawks like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) will almost certainly complain loudly about any kind of legislation that adds to the debt and/or does not do enough to address deficit spending.
Knowing that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) can’t afford more than a couple of defections, anti-deficit hardliners will try to extract their pound of flesh to keep the government open. Keep in mind that none of them actually likes the government, so shutting it down isn’t much of a problem for them.
That’s not all.
One fairly straightforward option to keep the government open would be to abide by the funding levels negotiated in 2023 by then-President Joe Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Their agreement would have kept non-defense spending level for two years while providing a modest increase for the Pentagon and veterans.
However, because Trump and his enablers are now in power, Republicans would like to renege on that compromise.
Of course, they also backed out of a previous CR that had been brokered by congressional leaders from both parties. Why? Because Musk, who didn’t like it, killed that deal with a pressure and disinformation campaign.
But wait, there is more.
If Democrats (foolishly) decide to sit down again with Republicans, and if they were to reach yet another funding deal that could pass Congress and that Trump would sign, there is no telling whether the White House would actually spend the money as intended.
We know this because the administration has usurped the power of the purse from Congress — with the blessing of emasculated Republicans who have applauded the president and Musk as they unilaterally froze congressionally-allocated funds for foreign aid and other programs.
During the negotiations underway now, Democrats are seeking assurances that this won’t happen.
“Republican leadership’s plan to pass a full-year continuing resolution with Musk’s devastating ‘DOGE cuts’ would give Trump new flexibility to spend funding as he sees fit,” said Sen. Patty Murray (WA) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (CT), the ranking Democrats on the Senate and House Appropriations Committees. “Their plan would only help Trump and Musk cut off support for our veterans, cancel lifesaving cancer research, and threaten seniors’ Social Security benefits.”
Of course, that’s like Charlie Brown seeking assurances from Lucy that she won’t pull away the football again.
Also, it’s not as though GOP leaders have a good record when it comes to standing up to their co-presidents.
In other words, we are in this position because Republicans will likely not be able to pass a CR on their own even though they control both chambers of Congress; because their leaders and the White House have shown that they are not negotiating in good faith; and because Trump and Musk are almost certainly not going to abide by the terms of any deal they reach.
So, clearly, a shutdown would be the Democrats’ fault.
At least that is the bill of goods Republicans are already trying to sell to their voters.
Johnson told reporters this week that Democrats are trying to add “completely unreasonable conditions” to any agreement.
You know, “unreasonable” as in, “We would like Republicans to actually stick to this deal and not change it after the fact.”
And even that is not the craziest aspect of this saga.
What is truly mind-boggling is that there’s a real chance the Democrats will actually bail out Republicans once again.
Yes, the Democrats clearly empathize a lot more with the Americans who would be affected by the shutdown. However, this is not the time for Democrats to negotiate any kind of deal with Republicans who claim counter-factually to have an absolute mandate and whose president acts like a dictator.
This is especially true because Musk, Trump’s non-elected “efficiency” czar, seems hellbent on destroying the government permanently. So why not remind people how many highly popular government services would not be available during a shutdown?
Finally, just as a resistance movement is beginning to form again, all of those Americans who are standing up to the Trump administration would, rightfully, view it as a betrayal by the Democrats if they worked with the GOP.
The only acceptable strategy for them is to do nothing while Republicans shut down the government, watch them get the blame, and then extract a heavy price when GOP leaders come to them for help.
Anything else would be a betrayal of the voters who want the Democrats to show a spine and begin playing hardball.
