Democrats Shouldn’t Save The GOP As Ted Cruz Pushes House Towards Government Shutdown

At a press conference, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) pushed House Republicans to shut down the government, and Democrats should step aside and do nothing to stop the Republican Party from their latest act of self destruction.

Video of Cruz:

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

According to National Journal,

While House Speaker John Boehner has been trying to rally Republicans around a plan to fund the government before the Dec. 11 deadline, the most-conservative members in the chamber want to confront President Obama’s executive action on immigration more aggressively.

At Wednesday’s press conference, it appeared that some of the House’s hardliners are rallying around Cruz’s strategy-gut Obama’s effort on immigration by defunding it in the must-pass spending bill, now. Cruz is calling for a rider stripping funding for the executive action.

“We fought a bloody revolution to free ourselves from monarchs,” Cruz said.

As has been explained to these rock headed Republicans numerous times, the executive orders can’t be defunded because Congress doesn’t provide the funding. The implementation of the executive orders is funded by fees, not congressional appropriation.

If the House does what Cruz suggests the Senate will reject their bill, and the government will shut down. This is the same exact script that triggered last year’s government shutdown.

There is a myth being circulated by some congressional Republicans that last year’s government shutdown didn’t hurt them, so they see no reason not to shutdown the government at will. The nation is still facing the same political reality that we have been collectively existing since Republicans won control of the House.

John Boehner has no control over his House Republicans. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has more influence over a group of about forty Republicans than Speaker Boehner does. The far-right Republicans are demanding another government shutdown.

Unless Democrats come to the rescue of John Boehner, it looks the nation could be moving closer to another government shutdown.

In 2013, Democrats refused to save Republicans from themselves and the government shutdown. Democrats will get no reward from Republicans by helping them, so it is time for America to see exactly what they voted for in November.

House Democrats should step aside and let the Republican Party crash and burn with Ted Cruz behind the wheel.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association