The Corner

Politics & Policy

The Looming Shutdown

Chuck Schumer is pushing for a days-long CR. Maybe he can get Trump to go along with it, but it doesn’t make much sense. It’s highly unlikely that Congress is going to arrive at a DACA deal and write a bill in a matter of days. If Trump doesn’t go for a very short-term CR, McConnell certainly isn’t going to sign on for it, and then the question is what’s Schumer’s next move?

Maybe he will push this all the way into a shutdown, although it’s a very risky gambit. Perhaps anything can be pinned on Trump and Republicans at this point, but it would objectively be Democrats forcing the shutdown, even if McConnell loses a couple of members of his caucus (Lindsey Graham is playing an especially destructive role).

Republicans would be in a much stronger position than in past shutdown fights, because this time they really don’t want a shutdown, and a Republican House, with the support of the Republican president, has passed a measure to keep the government open. It is the Democrats who want to force an extraneous measure, DACA, on the bill to keep the government operating. This should be a heavy lift for them. The advantage the Democrats have, of course, is a very sympathetic media and the wild card of Trump himself.

Exit mobile version