Why the Democrats shouldn’t vote to keep the government open

I was undecided about how the Democrats should handle the looming federal government shutdown at midnight on October 1 until this dawned on me: the Dems shouldn’t vote to keep the government open. That’s different from voting for a government shutdown.

Sure, this is a subtle difference. But it’s an important one.

Trump and his Republican cronies are all set to scream from the (metaphorical) rooftops, “We wanted a clean continuing resolution to keep the government open for seven weeks, which would allow time to negotiate a budget for the next fiscal year, but Democrats rejected our oh-so-reasonable offer because their left wing base wants to fight Trump with a government shutdown.”

There’s enough truth to this that many people will blame the Democrats when national parks close, air traffic delays start happening, and Trump lays off tens of thousands of federal workers because there’s no money to pay them.

That’s why House and Senate Democrats would be wise to say, “We didn’t vote to shut the government down. We don’t have that power, because Republicans have the majority in Congress and Trump in the White House. All we’ve done is not vote to keep the government open, because along with the majority of Americans, we strongly disagree with Republican plans to defund programs people rely on, like health care.”

The Senate filibuster rule is what makes this approach possible for the Democrats.

To pass a bill to keep the government open, currently 60 votes are needed to overturn a filibuster, which can be initiated by a single senator. That means Republicans need seven additional votes from the Democratic caucus, since there are only 53 GOP senators.

So Schumer and Jeffries, the Democratic leaders of the Senate and House, should make clear that they aren’t voting for a government shutdown. They’ve merely withheld Democratic votes to keep the government open. It’s up to the Republicans to pass a budget bill, since they have majorities in both the House and Senate. This means that if the GOP wants to do away with the Senate filibuster, such can be done with only Republican votes.

Once the filibuster is gone, the Senate is back to what every other governmental body does: pass laws, rules, or regulations by a majority vote. Then, if the House and Senate want to keep the government open, all that’s needed is to get almost all of the Republican members to vote for a bill that does this.

The benefit for Democrats is that now the Republican Party owns whatever happens with the federal government. No more blaming the Democrats. The GOP rules both the House and Senate, along with the presidency. With the filibuster gone, there goes the excuse of Republicans: “If it wasn’t for Senate Democrats and the damn filibuster, we really could have done great things for the American people.”

Both political parties love the filibuster when they aren’t in power, because it allows them to throw a wrench into the gears of lawmaking. But the filibuster is inherently undemocratic. It thwarts the will of whichever party has managed to gain a majority of Senate seats. The filibuster is a holdover from the days when southern Democrats used it to prevent civil rights legislation from passing.

Schumer and Jeffries should dare Republicans to do away with the filibuster if they want to pass their budget bill without honestly negotiating with Democrats.

This allows Congressional Democrats to show their base that they’re fighting for them, and against Trump. It also shows the American people that whatever problems accompany a government shutdown are caused by Republicans, since they have the power to pass a budget bill on their own if they do away with the filibuster.

So hold firm, Congressional Democrats.

Don’t back down from your demand that the GOP restore the cuts to Affordable Care Act subsidies that will dramatically increase health care costs for many millions of Americans. Repeat over and over, “We’re not shutting the government down, because Republicans have the votes to keep it open; we’re simply not providing Democratic votes to do this, because we vehemently disagree with Trump’s harmful budget cuts.”