Congress is facing down a deadline this week: they must pass a budget resolution to prevent a government shutdown. The can has been kicked down the road several times now with stopgap measures, and they are preparing to perhaps do the same again. However, Congress will eventually have to pass a budget that they agree on.
Recent negotiations have been derailed by Trump’s hardline stance on immigration — when lawmakers brought him a plan to save Dreamers, he turned it down, making the now-infamous comment about how we don’t want more immigrants from “shithole countries.” So now DACA hangs in the balance, along with the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which GOP leaders are holding over Democrats’ heads as an incentive to agree to their demands. Democrats must vote for a resolution that doesn’t help Dreamers, or they must vote against a resolution that extends CHIP’s funding. If a resolution isn’t passed, the government will shut down, and Republicans will doubtlessly blame Democrats.
As far as we’re concerned, these issues are important enough that if they’re not in the resolution, Democrats should refuse to vote for it, even if that means the government shuts down. There’s a 60-vote threshold, so Republicans need their cooperation. They should not give it until Republicans make a good faith effort to pass DACA protections and to save CHIP, programs that come at little to no cost to the government and promise to improve or save the lives of nearly ten million children and young adults. If Democrats want to authentically claim to help real people, they can’t leave these programs behind. Not only would they be helping Dreamers and children, they would be supporting programs that are overwhelmingly popular with the American electorate.
Of course, they run the risk of a government shutdown (which is generally an unpopular outcome) making them look bad. However, unlike the Republican shutdowns of yore, which hinged on their desire to strip millions of Americans of their healthcare, Democrats harbor intentions which are actually noble and worth fighting for. This is no “Ted Cruz reading Green Eggs and Ham” tantrum — the Democrats are backing substantial policy, and most importantly, are willing to compromise, as evidenced by the DACA resolution that was brought before the president last week.
Yet, time and time again, Republicans refuse to extend the same courtesy. They resisted compromise in 2013, and they are resisting it now. They will surely blame a potential shutdown on Democrats’ unwillingness to bend to their will, but their unreasonable position would require Democrats to abandon vulnerable populations and their basic decency in order to satisfy hardline Republicans’ demands. They expect to be obeyed with no real effort to address valid Democratic concerns.
This is not good governance. This is running roughshod over the priorities of the American people and avoiding accountability. Democrats holding out will not be at fault for a shutdown; Republicans playing to the most conservative corner of their base to the exclusion of all other Americans will be.
In our opinion, Democrats have no obligation to save Republicans from lying in the bed they made. They instead have an obligation to go to bat for DACA and CHIP, even if the government shuts down. Some issues are more important than the public narrative that Republicans will peddle to escape responsibility.