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As he has with every grave threat to the nation, the Constitution, and the institution he's in charge of, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made his choice to stick with the Russian asset in the Oval Office. He's not budging on reopening government, and seemingly has an iron grip on the rest of his caucus.
Other than Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Cory Gardner of Colorado, Republican senators are keeping mum. That's fine, according to McConnell's former No. 2, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who says they can "do what they need to do and advocate for what they believe their constituents want." But it's not going to make a difference with McConnell, because he is not going to "go through this effort of passing something the president won’t sign and then going through a potential veto override and all the conflict that would cause."
In other words, he refuses to do the biggest thing the Constitution requires of him: providing a check on the executive. That would require putting country before party, a concept McConnell clearly doesn't embrace. It's making for some discomfort for his team, but they're not totally breaking ranks. Even Gardner, one of the most vulnerable in the class of 2020, tries to turn it around. "Why isn't there a rebellion on the Democrats' side?" he asked rhetorically. Perhaps because they take their jobs seriously. Perhaps because they are retaining their integrity.
This shutdown is now in its 25th day, making it the longest in American history. It's costing the country $6.5 billion in economic activity every week, S&P Global analysts estimate. It's threatening lives, destroying our natural heritage, and breaking the Senate even further.
This is all happening against the backdrop of the news that Trump has been and may still be the subject of a counterintelligence investigation because of his ties to Russia. That's where we're at, and McConnell is the one person who can end this shutdown. Clearly, the message he's getting from his senators is not strong enough.
Clearly, they're not getting a strong enough message from us. Call your Republican senators at 202-224-3121 and don't stop until this is over.