With a deadline looming once again, conservatives are saying go ahead and shut the federal government down. Nobody will notice much missing. As Congress races the clock to fund the national budget, lawmakers on the far-right are holding tough. This isn’t a last minute decision for them, it’s a line in the sand. If the RINOs don’t want to accept that serious slashing needs to be done on the out of control spending, that’s not the Freedom Caucus’ problem.
Shut it down for awhile
As Congress faces a September 30 deadline to pass some sort of a spending plan, the threat to shut the whole thing down doesn’t phase everyone.
As The Hill nervously observes, “a handful of hard-line Republicans are brushing off — or even embracing — the possibility of a shutdown, arguing that bringing the government to a screeching halt is more acceptable than allowing the country to continue on its current spending trajectory.” What’s Joe going to do, close the ocean again?
South Carolina’s Ralph Norman isn’t afraid to shut down the whole circus. “If a shutdown occurs, then so be it.” A deal is a deal. Kevin McCarthy made a promise to stick to “a path of financial security, which we don’t have.” Back in July, Virginia’s Bob Good warned “we should not fear a government shutdown.” Since then, he’s become even more determined. “Eighty-five percent or so of the government continues to operate, and most Americans won’t even miss it.”
“If there's a [government] shutdown, it's going to be because Joe Biden and the Democrats and Schumer decide they want to continue a radical agenda that's at odds with the American people.“
🔊SOUND ON: pic.twitter.com/buzue41R6E
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) August 30, 2023
We learned that lesson the last time, when it happened under Obama, who went out of his way to make Americans feel some pain. He even went as far as closing the National War Memorials, which aren’t much more than some pavement around monuments and don’t require any staff. At Mt. Vernon, a private run museum, Obama closed the nationally owned parking lot.
As Rep. Good explains, “if that’s the leverage that we need to utilize to force the Democrats to accept spending cuts and an end to the harmful policies that are, again, crushing the American people — I mean, then we need to do that.”
The conservative half of America is firmly behind a full shut down. The out of control spending on useless and harmful things simply must end and the sooner the better.
A tiny minority
The group of hard core conservatives insisting on the spending cuts may be “a tiny minority within the GOP conference” but they’re a vocal and effective one. If they insist on getting their demands, it will be the opponents who had the government shut, not them.
It’s up to Democrats and RINOs to sharpen their pencils and trim the fat, as they knew they would have to do sooner or later. They can keep the lights on easily by promising to live within a balanced budget.
McCarthy is doing his best to negotiate another “short-term” continuing resolution to kick the can down the road again, like they normally do. This time, the conservatives aren’t going for it. They realize that a shut down is the only real leverage they have and they’re using it.
Exclusive — Conservative Leaders: Risk of Government Shutdown Worth Stopping Biden Agenda https://t.co/EFDd9MbvpA via @BreitbartNews
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) August 31, 2023
That leaves 11 days between the time they get back from vacation and the final deadline. Even the threat of delaying Joe Biden’s impeachment isn’t enough to get the conservatives to back down on the spending. They also need “significant policy reforms on the border” and a review of “woke policies in the Pentagon.”
McCarthy went on record publicly to warn “that the probes into Hunter Biden and the Biden family’s foreign business dealings — which McCarthy said could soon develop into an impeachment inquiry as a ‘natural step forward‘ — would be halted.” Oh well, conservatives note.
“We are not going to be distracted by a shiny object saying, ‘if you don’t get this continuing resolution passed, we won’t be able to pursue the impeachment inquiry,‘” Montana conservative Matt Rosendale declares. “That’s nonsense.” Shut it down now. We’ll impeach later.