It’s “looming government shutdown” season in Congress again, and nobody can accuse the Democrats of not being completely unified in their talking points.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is calling on Sen. Chuck Schumer to rally enough Democrat support on the Senate side to get the CR passed and sent to President Trump’s desk:
Every House Democrat but one voted to shut down the government yesterday.
Chuck Schumer needs to decide: will Senate Democrats keep the government funded or will they join House Democrats and shut it down? pic.twitter.com/9JcTu8XLnQ
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) March 12, 2025
The Republicans are calling it the “Schumer shutdown”:
Republicans are ramping up pressure on Senate Democrats ahead of a vote on the House-passed stopgap spending bill to keep the government open, even dubbing a potential funding lapse as a “Schumer shutdown.”
“If they want to shut it down, it’s on them,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told reporters. “That’ll be a Schumer shutdown.”
Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., recently stressed this point in an op-ed for Fox News, writing, “If there is a shutdown, it will be driven by and directed by the Democrats.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fired back at Speaker Johnson with this attempt to run cover for the Dems:
Republicans run the House, the Senate, and the White House.
You run the government. If you have the votes, then go ahead.
If you need Democrats, then you need to negotiate with Democrats.
Those are your two options. Blaming someone else because your shoes are untied isn’t one. https://t.co/O8LCBf1Pl2
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 12, 2025
Narrator: If there’s a shutdown it will in fact be because of enough Democrats wanting it to happen.
60 votes are needed to pass a CR. Democrats won’t negotiate and they will shut down the government. https://t.co/Tcc8da4tWN
— Donna (@DMLrad) March 12, 2025
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If that happens the Dems will try to blame the Republicans and of course they can count on much of the media to help them spin it in that direction. Maybe the Dems would be more willing to support the CR if DOGE would thank them for helping do their cost cutting job via a shutdown.
The Senate requires more than a simple majority.
AOC knows this. She also knows her followers likely do not. Hence… https://t.co/PwglOLqAAh
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) March 13, 2025
It seems to us that when the Democrats are in control they’re not particularly eager to negotiate with the Republicans.
I don’t remember you negotiating with republicans https://t.co/6jIAo1tdrX
— roberta l parker (@robertalpeters) March 13, 2025
Trump adviser Stephen Miller gets the last word on this one:
AOC doesn’t know what a CR is. Incredible.
When both sides disagree on government funding…Congress passes a CR. It just means: continue funding tomorrow at the same levels being spent today. https://t.co/RJ2eiI54RV
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) March 13, 2025
“AOC doesn’t know…” can certainly be said about a lot of things.
