Since the government shutdown on Tuesday, House Republicans have pushed legislation to reopen selected parts of the federal government. They have proposed legislation to reopen National Parks, the Veterans Administration and fully fund the National Guard, among other measures. To date, 57 House Democrats, almost a third of the caucus, have broken ranks with Leader Pelosi and President Obama to support the GOP refunding efforts.
“Despite these bipartisan votes,” Mike Long, spokesman for Rep. Kevin McCarthy, said in a statement to Breitbart News, “Leader Reid and Co-Leader Schumer continue to object to up or down votes on any of these bills including funding for veterans, active service military personnel and pediatric cancer patients.”
As Breitbart News has pointed out, the federal government is ordinarily funded by specific appropriations bills covering one or two agencies at a time. There is nothing unusual about the House, or Senate, moving bills to fund individual agencies. Apparently, 57 House Democrats agree with this approach.
As the shutdown stretches on, it will become increasingly clear to the American public that the Democrats won’t negotiate or compromise. Their extremist position goes so far as to block how Congress has normally funded government. One-third of the House Democrat caucus is in open revolt of this strategy, however. Democrat defections will likely increase as the shutdown lingers.
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