The Schumer Shutdown

“I believe in immigration reform. What if I persuaded my caucus to say, ‘I’m going to shut the government down. I’m going to not pay our bills unless I get my way.’ It’s a politics of idiocy, of confrontation, of paralysis,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) … in 2013. Schumer, then Harry Reid’s lieutenant, also stated ahead of the government shutdown that year, “You know we could do the same thing on immigration. … We could say, ‘We’re shutting down the government. We’re not going to raise the debt ceiling until you pass immigration reform.’ It would be governmental chaos.” Well, surprise, surprise — just a few years later, now-Senate Minority Leader Schumer has totally reversed his “convictions” and has embraced the “politics of idiocy,” holding the government hostage over his demands for an immediate deal on the non-imminent DACA issue. As Donald Trump’s director of legislative affairs Marc Short pointed out, “There’s no DACA bill to vote on, and there’s no emergency on the timing.”

Democrats saw to that by leaking and making a spectacle of Trump’s alleged vulgar remarks, all to paint him as a racist and undermine any deal. Now they’ve shut the government down, too.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) pointedly questioned Democrats’ motives for resisting working out a necessary budget deal. “Are Democrats going to shut the government … because we want basic reforms and enforcement measures that are going to prevent further flows of illegal immigrants and unskilled immigrants?” he asked rhetorically. “Seems to me like a tough position to win in light of the 2016 election.”

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