Democrats Have the Votes to Shut Down Government

The media is already downplaying this -- and claiming it's really Republicans' fault, anyway.

The possibility of a government shutdown grew dramatically Thursday as House and Senate GOP leaders struggled to round up the votes to keep the government open past midnight Friday...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appears to have a serious problem.

Senate Democrats said they're confident they have the votes to block the stop-gap spending bill that the House is taking up, according to two Democratic senators and a senior party aide. And top Senate Republicans are openly worried about the situation as they struggle to keep their own members in the fold.

Democrats are about to shut down the government over a policy dispute -- something they portrayed as a cataclysmic threat to America's stability when Republicans did the same in 2014 -- and it's Mitch McConnell who has the problem? He has to appease the Democrats?

Funny, the media didn't seem to think it was the Democrats' duty to repeal Obamacare as Republicans wanted in 2014.

Why the flip-flop, media?

Related thoughts from John Sexton, who questions Politico's framing in the same way I do. But i'm not copying, honest! -- This post has been in draft for hours.

By the way, the House Freedom Caucus is now attempting their own gamesmaship in the House, saying they won't vote for the CR on the House side unless all of the FISA Abuse report is made public.

Democrats, of course, are blocking that, while at the same time claiming they want "transparency."

BTW: This report has now been cleared for reading by all Congressmen. As Byron York suggests, this is probably a step towards making it publicly available.

One way or the other -- now that it's in 535 people's hands, plus their staff members cleared to read it, it's very very leakable.

And I hear it's gonna be a doozy.

posted by Ace at 06:10 PM

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