Biden Campaign: Trump Is Pushing GOP Toward Shutdown

“House Republicans are gleefully letting Donald Trump function as their chief political strategist at the expense of American families. Trump’s behavior is shameful, but unsurprising from someone who has demonstrated he couldn’t care less about the American people.”

— A spokesman for President Biden’s campaign hit House Republicans for heeding Donald Trump’s calls to dig in on a government shutdown if they don’t get “everything,” The Hill reports.

Shutdowns Are a Part of GOP Brand

“This is so basic and runs so deep that people ignore it. But it’s worth repeating: shutdowns are part of the Republican brand. The facts, in this case, show the GOP is at fault. But even if they didn’t, even if the facts showed the opposite, the GOP would still have a hard time because again: shutdowns are part of the Republican brand. They invented them as a policy and legislative cudgel. They’ve used them consistently under Democratic presidents. And because Republicans are generally inimical to the idea that government is a positive force in people’s lives and valorize dramatic and high stakes political gambits they have consistently embraced the concept and strategy of government shutdowns.”

Josh Marshall

McConnell: If GOP Wins the Senate We Will Shut Down Government

So in the House and Senate, we own the budget. So what does that mean? That means that we can pass the spending bill. And I assure you that in the spending bill, we will be pushing back against this bureaucracy by doing what’s called placing riders in the bill. No money can be spent to do this or to do that. We’re going to go after them on healthcare, on financial services, on the Environmental Protection Agency, across the board (inaudible). All across the federal government, we’re going to go after it …

— Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), telling a room of conservative activists how Republicans will shut down parts of the government if they gain control of the U.S. Senate on an audio tape acquired by The Nation.