Will Senate Democrats force McConnell’s hand on a government spending bill?
The government shutdown is now dragging into its third week, with no immediate end in sight.
Throughout shutdown negotiations, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has tried to take himself out of the equation as much as possible, saying it’s up to President Donald Trump and House Democrats to figure out a deal before he’ll so much as bring a funding bill to the floor of the Senate. Basically, McConnell wants to know Trump will sign a funding bill before he schedules a vote.
Now, Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, both of Maryland, want to force McConnell’s hand — they’re calling for Senate Democrats to block votes on all bills unless it’s a funding bill to reopen the government. Both senators floated the idea on Twitter this weekend.
Senate Democrats should block consideration of any bills unrelated to opening the government until Sen. Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans allow a vote on the bipartisan bills the House passed to open the government. Mitch, don’t delay. Let’s vote!
— Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) January 5, 2019
“Mitch, don’t delay. Let’s vote!” Van Hollen tweeted on Saturday. Cardin was quick to echo the sentiment, writing, “This isn’t business as usual. This is a crisis, a fundamental failure to govern, and Americans are suffering for it.”
Agreed. This isn’t business as usual. This is a crisis, a fundamental failure to govern, and Americans are suffering for it.
— Senator Ben Cardin (@SenatorCardin) January 6, 2019
The Senate should not take up any bills unrelated to reopening the government until @SenateMajLdr lets us vote on exactly that. #Shutdown https://t.co/IUiJLWP68R
It’s no coincidence that the two senators from Maryland are calling for this; the government shutdown is a constituent issue for both of them. Being so close to DC, Maryland is home to a lot of federal government workers — about 147,000 as of 2017, according to Governing magazine. Those workers are all on furlough, going without a paycheck.
There’s a distinct method to this strategy; as the Republican leader of the Senate, McConnell is in a unique position to put pressure on Trump. Remember, this all started when Trump changed his mind and refused to sign a spending bill without wall money that had passed the Senate unanimously.
McConnell has subtly shown his displeasure with the continuation of the shutdown, urging Trump to meet with Democrats and being conspicuously absent from Trump’s press conference on border security on Friday (although his spokesperson said he simply didn’t know the press conference was happening). But he hasn’t outwardly put any real pressure on Trump to sign spending bills to open the government back up.
Right now, Trump is squabbling with Democrats, but neither side is budging on their demands. McConnell siding with Democratic leaders to put pressure on Trump or even override the president’s veto on a spending bill would be a remarkable break with his party
Now, a few Senate Democrats are calling for their entire caucus to put pressure on McConnell. It’s still just a small number; Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont joined Cardin and Van Hollen to call for blocking other bills besides a spending bill.
It’s absurd that the first bill during the shutdown is legislation which punishes Americans who exercise their constitutional right to engage in political activity. Democrats must block consideration of any bills that don’t reopen the government. Let's get our priorities right. https://t.co/rHvpBHtHI5
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 6, 2019
The move has also been endorsed by progressive activist groups Indivisible and MoveOn, but it’s not just a sentiment shared by progressives; Van Hollen and Cardin are considered more centrist Democrats.
Now, it’s a matter of seeing whether the rest of the Senate Democratic caucus will get on board and band together to block bills until the shutdown fight is resolved and the government is reopened.
Senate Democrats are getting noticeably frustrated that McConnell is deferring to Trump on the issue of reopening the government rather than acting like a leader of a co-equal branch of government who could actually stand up to the president.
“McConnell and Senate Republicans have to stop contracting out their votes to Donald Trump,” Van Hollen told the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent. “They have an important constitutional role, and we should not have business-as-usual in the Senate until we open the entire federal government.”
from Vox - All http://bit.ly/2Fdbcqc
Breaking News: 3 Democratic senators want to block all Senate bills until Mitch McConnell takes up a bill to reopen the government - News Paper
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