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Senate Democrats: should they avert a government shutdown? [1]
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Date: 2025-03-12
The House passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) that keeps government operational for six months, and now it must be voted on by the Senate. By all Democratic accounts, the CR is a terrible one. Were it not for the prospect of a shutdown, Democrats normally would oppose such a bill.
But historically, Republicans have been the ones to use this type of brinkmanship to allow a shutdown in hopes of extorting a better compromise out of their Democratic colleagues. A government shutdown causes harm and hardship to federal employees and everyone they serve. Democrats have rightly criticized Republicans for playing with these things in such a cavalier manner. They don't want to do the same.
On the other hand, conditions are increasingly desperate and Democrats have very few levers to encourage any sort of compromise. They might come up with a specific list of demands that Republicans must make to secure their votes. Or Republicans could simply offer a shorter stopgap measure. In that way, ending the shutdown would still be in Republican hands. It is unclear who would be considered responsible if a shutdown ensues. Each side will try to blame it on the other, of course.
Finally, after Senate Democrats recently held a 2-hour meeting, another reason that emerged, among those considering voting for the bad CR, was that shutting down the government might paradoxically make things easier for Musk and Doge to destroy. Perhaps the shutdown would permit identification of more and less essential services and even more things would be cut more quickly. One of the major goals of refusing to vote on the CR would be to extract an agreement to stop what Musk is doing. So which solution would be more likely to achieve this end? To allow Republicans to drive us into a government shutdown by not voting for their bad CR, in hopes that concessions about Musk or other things can be extracted from Senate Republicans? Or should Democrats vote for the CR in order to avoid being blamed for a shutdown as well as to avoid making things even worse for federal employees and agencies than they are right now.
What do you think? Please vote and consider sharing your reasons below.
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