(Official Washington Examiner editorial, July 23): Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and 16 Republican House members are deliberately creating another government funding crisis. In a more rational world, voters would allow none of them to stay in office.
On Wednesday, 14 House Republicans voted “no” and two voted “present” on a sensible “continuing resolution” bill to keep the government operating through next March while ensuring that only U.S. citizens can vote in this fall’s elections. Their obstinacy, combined with that of all but three Democrats, killed the bill for now and made another stupid government “shutdown” more likely when the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.
The 16 Republicans voted as they did mainly in protest after Schumer and most Senate Democrats refused to allow a vote on an annual appropriations bill. The House has passed five of the most important appropriations bills — 12 are supposed to pass each year — and would have finished others if the Senate showed any inclination to do its part. Schumer’s dereliction of duty is what makes a continuing resolution rather than the 12 ordinary spending bills in regular order necessary. That dereliction makes a government shutdown at the end of this month a real threat.
The 16 Republicans are mostly the usual suspects more interested in theater than good governance or achievable conservative results. They are Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Eli Crane (R-AZ) Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Tim Burchett (R-TN), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Cory Mills (R-FL), Greg Steube (R-FL), Wesley Hunt (R-TX) Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Mike Rogers (R-AL), and Matt Rosendale (R-MT). The two “present” votes, almost equally harmful, came from antisemitic conspiracy theorist Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY).
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
By playing “chicken” with spending bills, with no achievable alternative plan, these Republicans play the part of Schumer’s useful idiots. Whereas a continuing resolution would keep spending within the last budget deal’s mild limits, Schumer wants more spending. He knows he can, as always, blame a shutdown on Republicans who couldn’t even get a majority for their own leadership’s continuing resolution. Blame will be considerable…. [The full editorial is at this link.]
