House Republicans may be planning a "boneheaded" move in response to the looming threat of a government shutdown, Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman told MSNBC's Katy Tur on Friday afternoon.
This follows the Senate's failure to pass the House's continuing resolution to keep the government funded for several more weeks, with most Democrats and two Republicans voting against it. Democrats are demanding the GOP extend funding of Affordable Care Act subsidies as a condition of their vote.
President Donald Trump has demanded Republicans not negotiate on the issue at all, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is in blame mode, telling reporters on Capitol Hill, "The ball is in Chuck Schumer's court. I hope he does the right thing. I hope he does not choose to shut the government down and inflict pain unnecessarily on the American people."
"He's calling out Chuck Schumer, specifically, the Minority Leader there in the Senate," said Tur. "Do you have an idea of what Chuck Schumer might do?"
"So Katy, here's the story," said Sherman. "We have one chamber that has passed a bill, the House. It is a clean C.R. A clean government funding bill until November. The other chamber rejected it. So now they need to find something, Katy, that they could both pass. Like, yes, the ball is in the Senate's court, but unfortunately for Republicans, you need 60 votes in the Senate to do anything. Like, those are the rules. So it's incumbent on both of them."
"And by the way, House Republicans, Katy, are now suggesting they're going to leave town until after the government shutdown happens, which — I've seen a lot of boneheaded political moves on Capitol Hill, that one kind of takes the cake," he said.
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