Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says the only people talking about shutting down the government are a handful of Democrats.
So, Dems are asking, what about all those Republicans who’ve threatened a shutdown?
They’re rounding up examples, and have put a few together in the below video.
And, of course, there’s no shortage of examples, particularly from House Republicans for which there’s no audio or video record.
Back in September, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) was quoted in Roll Call challenging House Speaker John Boehner “to make that commitment that if the president shuts down the government, there wouldn’t be a repeat of 1995 where the House caved.”
The same month, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) urged supporters, “If the government shuts down, we want you with us.”
And so on. Republican leaders haven’t been this vocal — mostly they just decline to take a shutdown off the table. And Democrats are definitely happy to create the sense that it’s a wider-spread sentiment in the GOP than perhaps it is. But the point is to saddle the GOP with making the threat, get them to give up their leverage, and force them to the negotiating table on spending.
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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