Staff Reports
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) recently said that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is using the possibility of a government shutdown to keep his job as Senate floor leader. With another election for Congress coming up, Blackburn says that Schumer wants to keep control of the Senate in 2025, which she thinks would be hard.
Sen. Blackburn says Schumer is trying to force a shutdown to help him 'hang on to the U.S. Senate' | Just The News https://t.co/rp2jHhWyn7
— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) September 4, 2023
Blackburn says that Republicans in the Senate and House are working hard to pass spending bills to limit the power of the White House and fight inflation. The senator talks about how inflation hurts Americans in their daily lives, such as by making gas prices go up and food prices go up. Blackburn says that addressing inflation is one way that Republicans can weaken the White House's power, and that avoiding a government shutdown is key to this.
Schumer, on the other hand, recently sent a letter to Chairs Patty Murray (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) praising them for passing 12 bills to fund the government before their July break. In his letter, Schumer begs the Republican-controlled House to follow the Senate's example and pass their appropriations bills. He stresses how important it is to avoid a "harmful and unnecessary" government shutdown.
A possible government shutdown could make it harder for House Republicans to impeach President Joe Biden, which Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and other Republicans favor. But House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has made it clear that he won't skip a floor vote on an impeachment inquiry into Biden unless it gets the 218 votes needed to move the impeachment trial to the Senate.
In the end, Blackburn's claim about Schumer's motivations may be based on a political rivalry, but the fight about government shutdowns and their effects is still an important one. Republicans want to do something about inflation and limit the power of the White House, while Democrats want to avoid a shutdown that could stop the government from working. With elections coming up, both parties are playing their cards strategically in order to gain political benefit.
