It's time to prep for a frenetic window of activity in the final days of 2017 that will decide whether the government doors stay open and services for citizens continue—or they don't.
Amid this mayhem, reporters will inevitably ask whether Democrats will be shutting down the government by denying their votes for spending they don't agree with once funding runs out on Dec. 22. That framing is outright bunk, as conservative writer Jennifer Rubin notes:
Wait. Democrats cannot shut down the government. They are the minority party and have neither the power nor the responsibility to keep the lights on and the government open. In fact, they could allow debate in the Senate to commence (not filibuster) and then vote no on passage of a spending bill. If Republicans don’t have the votes to pass it — because the Freedom Caucus in the House is in a tizzy or the hard-liners in the Senate insist on more cuts in domestic spending — Republicans will be responsible for the shutdown. Democrats should be clear and they should correct reporters who ask them if they are going to try to shut down the government
Now, the real question is whether, in exchange for getting the GOP off the hook (if the GOP cannot find votes to fund the government), Democrats will condition their help on a DACA fix. They’d be nuts not to, if Republicans cannot keep the government running with their own party in the majority in both houses and a GOP president. Democrats should give their votes for a spending bill they don’t like for nothing? [...]
A DACA fix (as well as reauthorizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP) should be a no-brainer for Democrats. A CBS poll this month showed 84 percent of Americans, including 74 percent of Republicans, favor keeping the dreamers. A Fox News poll found 83 percent of voters favor protection for the dreamers.
Rubin is exactly right on multiple counts.
Democrats shouldn't even entertain questions that ascribe them with responsibility for a government shutdown. Voters put Republicans at the helm—it's their show entirely.
And demanding CHIP funding and a Dreamer fix is an absolute no-brainer. Both are widely popular with voters and are the only reason Democrats should throw a lifeline to Republicans who can't even govern their own party, let alone the nation.