On Thursday, House Republicans were unable to get themselves together and agree to debate a military funding bill, to say nothing of a continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown. Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a press conference to make sure the message to the American people is clear: This will be the “unnecessary Republican shutdown of government.” This is an inherent problem with the Republican Party’s inability to govern.
After walking through the facts and calling out House Republicans for trying to tack right-wing “riders” onto a funding bill, Jeffries summed up what needs to happen: “We need the extreme MAGA Republicans to get their act together in the civil war that’s happening on the Republican side of the aisle.”
After taking a few questions about Republicans’ weak attempts at shading Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Jeffries went back to the real issue at hand: the impending Republican shutdown of the government. And he pulled no punches.
We’ve seen this done before. The Republicans shut down the government, partially, twice in the 1990s. Why? Because they wanted to end Medicaid as we know it. Bill Clinton and Democrats to the rescue, to stop that from happening. Same group of people, different version, in 2013, shut the government down for 14 days. Why? Again, jam their extreme right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people.
In that instance, they wanted President Obama to repeal his signature legislative accomplishment, the Affordable Care Act, and throw 20 million people or so off the rolls, and deprive them of health care. Like we were going to agree to that ransom note. Once again, Democrats to the rescue. Two-thousand-eighteen into nineteen—same thing. They shut the government down for 35 days. By the way, when the government shutdown began, Donald Trump was president. Republicans controlled the House and the Senate in December of 2018. They shut themselves down. That’s how much it’s in their DNA.
That time, what was the extreme ransom note? We want you to waste billions of dollars of taxpayer money to fund Trump’s ineffective, medieval border wall. Once again we held firm, refused to pay their ransom note, and we were able to get the government reopened.
Why are we going down this road again? We know how it’s going to end. We’re not paying a ransom note so you can jam your extreme ideology down the throats of the American people and hurt everyday Americans. We never have and we never will.
Sign if you agree: No more MAGA circus. Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker!
We did it! And it’s all thanks to Molech! We’re devoting this week’s episode of “The Downballot” to giving praise to the dark god himself after New Hampshire Democrat Hal Rafter won a critical special election over Republican Jim Guzofski, the loony toons pastor who once ranted that liberals make “blood sacrifices to their god Molech.” Democrats are now just one seat away from erasing the GOP’s majority in the state House and should feel good about their chances in the Granite State next year. Republicans, meanwhile, can only stew bitterly that they lack the grassroots fundraising energy provided by Daily Kos, which endorsed Rafter and raised the bulk of his campaign funds via small donations.
