The White House Is Ludicrously Blaming Obama For Trump’s Government Shutdown

OMB Director Mick Mulvaney claimed that Obama weaponized government shutdowns, which was an indirect way of blaming Obama for Trump’s refusal to cut a deal on DACA, which will shut down down the government.

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Mulvaney said, “We want to make folks understand that it will look very different than it did under the previous administration. One thing I’ve learned since I’ve been in this office is that there is no other way to describe it, but the Obama administration weaponized the shutdown in 2013. What they didn’t tell you was that they did not encourage agencies to use carry forward funds, carry forward funds, funds they were sitting on, nor did they encourage agencies to use transfer authority, that they could have made the shutdown in 2013 much less impactful, but they chose to make it worse, the only conclusion I can draw is they did for political purposes.”

The last government shutdown wasn’t caused by Obama. That government shutdown was caused by Republicans in the House and Senate refusing to fund the government unless Obamacare was repealed.

The government shutdown in 2018 is happening because Trump blew up a bipartisan congressional DACA deal because he is afraid that any deal immigration will hurt him with his base. It is a sign of Republican desperation that they are using the Obama dog whistle in a preemptive attempt to deflect blame away from them for their failure to keep the government open.

Republicans could try to pass a CR on a simple majority vote in the Senate, but they won’t because they don’t don’t have 50 votes for their own CR.

The responsibility for this mess rests with Speaker Paul Ryan, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and President Donald Trump.

Playing the Obama card can’t save them anymore.

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