Congressman Dan Newhouse (R-WA) told me that Democratic leadership is deliberately prolonging the federal government shutdown to inflict maximum public discomfort. They intend to use that misery to pressure Republicans, and their voters.
“It’s just totally disgraceful what’s happening here,” Newhouse said. “People are starting to wake up to the fact that this is all on the Democrats for one reason. It’s all political.”
Newhouse and I discussed how Democrats are refusing to support a clean continuing resolution (CR) that would simply fund the government at existing levels. He pointed to internal Democratic Party pressure shaping the strategy.
“You remember last… March when Chuck Schumer agonized over the question of voting for the CR, finally did, and then just got his nose bloodied by people in the Democrat Party for supporting a Republican continuing resolution,” Newhouse said. “He’s afraid for his leadership. He’s afraid for the primary he might see.”
According to Newhouse, Democrats have repeatedly voted against reopening the government. “I think they voted, what, 12 times now against the CR, against opening the government?” he said. “They voted against paying the troops. And then what do they do immediately after the vote? They go out and complain about the government being closed and the fact that the troops aren’t being paid.”
Newhouse told me that Senate Democrats rejected an offer to debate and vote on the policies they claim to want.“
Senator Thune… offered them the opportunity to have the vote and the debate,” he said. “And Leader Schumer said, no, that’s not enough. We want this outcome to be determined before we give it. It’s like, come on, that’s not the Democratic process.”
When I asked what Democrats actually want, Newhouse said he can’t identify an exit plan. “From the very, very beginning, I’ve wondered what their exit ramp is,” he said. “I just don’t see what it is that they’re going to be able to grab onto and say, OK, we can stop now because we won something. I don’t know what that something is.”
If the shutdown continues into November, Newhouse warned that millions could lose access to food benefits.
“By next weekend… the SNAP program runs out of money. Forty-two million people in the United States depend on that,” he said. “When are we going to stop?” he asked. “They’ve got to start deciding how much is enough here. But according to Katherine Clark, it gives them more leverage.”
—Ari Hoffman
