When the federal government shuts down because Congress can’t agree on spending, it’s the fault of the Republican Party.
Why? Because Democrats say so and the media believes them.
That’s not to say that Republicans have never deliberately shut down the government to force a spending issue, because they did in the 1990s under Clinton to force Washington to deal with the deficit.
The backlash among voters was so fierce that Republicans decided it was a bad negotiating technique, and with the exception of a few newcomers who never learned that lesson, don’t like to go that route.
However, the lesson learned by Democrats is that shuttering the government and blaming Republicans is a winning campaign issue, so it seems like every year they are screaming about a potential shut down and how it would be the fault of Republicans.
It’s looking less likely that an actual shutdown will occur next week when the fiscal year ends, but only if the Republicans give Democrats what they want, which is to break the sequester agreement and increase government spending on the left’s favorite domestic priorities.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer made no secret of this plan we told you about earlier this summer, and the New Yorker insisted that every Democrat including U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, was on board to force the shutdown that would cut off military pay and delay construction of the VA hospital.
This was before the Planned Parenthood scandal, which now has many Republicans refusing to vote for a spending bill that contains funding for the political organization. So, if the government shuts down next week, the Washington Post informs us that it will be the GOP’s fault.
Their reasoning: Republicans don’t have enough votes to defund Planned Parenthood, so they will keep that funding in the budget to get enough Democrat votes to pass the spending bill. However, Democrats will still vote to shut down the government unless the bill busts the spending caps and funds the left’s pet domestic funding projects.
See? It’s the GOP’s fault. And while Americans are screaming about closed national parks and delayed passport applications, and Coloradans get upset over the VA hospital and a cancelled bike race in Grand Junction, the Democrats, including Bennet, will use it to prosper in the next election.