Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Monday the government shutdown is on its way to being one of the longest in history unless Democrats accept the House-passed, GOP-crafted stopgap bill to reopen the government.
“We’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history, unless Democrats dropped their partisan demands and passed a clean, no-strings-attached budget to reopen the government and pay our federal workers,” Johnson said in a press conference on the 13th day of the government shutdown.
Congressional leaders have been locked in a standoff over government funding as Democrats demand that Republicans make concessions on health care, notably Affordable Care Act tax credits that are expiring at the end of the year. Republican leaders have refused to negotiate on health care during a shutdown, arguing that that Democrats must accept the “clean” funding stopgap the House passed in September — and which has failed to advance in the Senate seven times.
I think the problem is that they’re getting bribed by the same big business types as the Reps, but that does not jibe well with what Democrats stand for, or at least should be standing for. (btw I believe that Reps are 100% corrupt by now, Dems somewhat less than that. Hopefully a lot less.)
And many of them are probably still reeling from the idea that there’s no rules for running a country anymore, kicks below the belt are the norm.
Both aspects are harsh criticisms from me: