Democrats never planned, or even envisioned, a scenario where their lives would revolve around opposing President Trump’s agenda 24/7. Just a little bit ago, Sen. Elizabeth Warren was ranting about how we need to turn post offices into short-term lenders. Now she’s trying to defend ObamaCare from destruction, whereas if Hillary Clinton had won, she’d probably be lobbying for single-payer.
Same goes for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who got Sen. Harry Reid’s old job with a totally gutted filibuster system. That leaves Democrats mostly helpless in the face of the GOP’s agenda. Unless, of course, they decide to hit the red button and launch the mother of all temper tantrums: shutting down the government.
According to a recent New York Times report, they might do just that. Whether it’s increased immigration enforcement (possibly The Wall), defunding Planned Parenthood or cuts to the National Endowment of the Arts, Democrats are warning about “‘poison pills’ that could kill any potential deals to keep the gears of government running normally” through the April 28 deadline.
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Schumer and four other Democratic leaders wrote “We believe it would be inappropriate to insist on the inclusion of such funding in a must-pass appropriations bill that is needed for the Republican majority in control of the Congress to avert a government shutdown so early in President Trump’s administration.”
Translation: Don’t include anything in your budget that President Trump and the Congressional Republican majority campaigned (and won) on, or the lights go off.
It’s easy to look at this scenario and say it sounds familiar. And it does—kinda. Back in October 2013, the US government shut down because a budget or continuing funding resolution couldn’t get passed the House and Senate. Things were different back then. For starters, Republicans actually controlled the House.
Thus it wasn’t insane for former House Speaker John Boehner to expect concessions from Democrats on the budget (namely the funding of the, at the time, deeply unpopular Affordable Care Act). It’s unlikely Boehner believed Democrats would vote on totally defunding the ACA, but he was probably hoping for at least a delay on things like the medical device tax, or something else relatively minor.
Nope. At the time, Schumer slammed “a small group of fanatics who seem to have a stranglehold on the Republican Party” who wanted changes to the ACA. He continued, saying “No matter how strongly one feels about an issue, you shouldn’t hold millions of people hostage.”
Senate Democrats didn’t budge and House Republicans ended up passing continuing resolution a little over two weeks later. Now, it seems the Senate is under the stranglehold of a small group of fanatics: The Democratic Party.
The issues at hand in this new budget battle are far less consequential than a new entitlement like the ACA. This time, hypocritical Democrats are more concerned with pleasing various interest groups, like Planned Parenthood-loving feminists (which could maintain its funding if it promised not to offer abortion services in its clinics), or latte-sipping Upper West Siders who will miss riveting NEA-funded masterpieces like “Piss Christ.”
Yes, Trump’s Wall is by far the most controversial aspect of the new budget. Border protection, however, remains deeply popular with the American people, despite the fact that most Democrats won’t even acknowledge illegal immigration as a legitimate concern. Besides, if Democrats are so confident that the GOP’s agenda is completely bonkers, they can win back the House and Senate in 2018, pass a budget, and turn the beginning stages of the southern border wall into a new contemporary art museum.
Schumer told The Times that “The onus for shutting down government falls on the governing party, which is [the Republicans].” Interesting interpretation. Considering Schumer blamed Republicans for the 2013 shutdown, when does the onus ever fall on Democrats?
The mask has truly slipped for ghouls like Schumer: He never had any principles to begin with, nor did he ever care about the federal workers who will be momentarily furloughed if the government shuts down. It’s now clear that Democrats like him will always favor grandstanding for their constituents rather than acting consistent.
Democrats don’t like how difficult it is to win actually win majorities. Stomping your feet and hoping the media sets a generous narrative for you is much easier. Hopefully Republicans will teach Democrats a lesson they learned back in 2009 and keep up the fight. After all, elections have consequences.