Republican senators are growing increasingly alarmed at Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) inability to pass spending legislation over the staunch opposition of a small group of conservative rebels, and fear a government shutdown may be days away.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who’s had to deal with the political fallout of government shutdowns in 1995-96, 2013 and 2018-19, warned Republican lawmakers on the other side of the Capitol on Tuesday that shutdowns are “a loser for Republicans, politically.”
McConnell made his comments after House Republican leaders canceled a key procedural vote on a stopgap funding measure that was scheduled for 2:30 pm Tuesday amid opposition from disgruntled conservatives.
Okay McConnell says government shut downs are a loser for republicans politically. Why though? I assumed at this point they could do whatever they wanted and no one in their party would care. Are their doners getting money from the government or something?
Because they’re infighting in public. If they had these discussions behind closed doors, and publicly blamed the democrats, the turtle wouldn’t have said anything.
No, the government doesn’t sponsor kebabs because they are foreign influence.
Mmmmm, Doner Kebabs
Great. Now I’m hungry and want to visit Germany again.
Can’t believe the FEC has been ignoring the real threat this whole time
lots and lots of people don’t get PAID when the government shuts down… this upsets just about everybody… not getting paid for work…
Usually they can wrangle everyone together and push a unified strategy. But the House majority is so razor thin that even a couple dissenters make it impossible to do that. This is just an echo of how difficult it was to get McCarthy elected speaker. A couple Q loonies can hold everyone hostage, including the repub leadership.
A strong House Speaker might work with the Democrats to come up with something that both the Democrats and the saner-by-comparison Republicans could support. Then, when the Freedom Caucus had their toddler temper tantrum, they’d be overruled.
But McCarthy instead gave all the power to a handful of our people whose goal seems to be “give me everything I want - even the things I think up on the fly - or I’ll burn down the government. Also, I might just burn down the government anyway.”
The federal government is the largest employer in the United States and the hardcore R base isn’t big enough for them to get away with pissing off people on the margins. Sure, the true believers will blame democrats. But if a relatively small percentage of Republican voters get pissed and don’t bother voting, they’re not only not going to win the White House, they could easily lose the house and their shot at controlling the senate. And what pisses people off more than not getting paid?