Is the GOP starting to fracture on the shutdown? Maybe a little bit:
Republican dissent over House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) shutdown strategy spilled out on a private GOP call this afternoon, with Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) adding himself to the growing list of lawmakers questioning whether they should still be home in their districts.
Republicans have been largely unified around their strategy of keeping the House out of session and refusing to negotiate with Democrats. But the cracks are growing.
- Crenshaw questioned how the House could make up for the lost days, a source on the call told Axios. Lawmakers haven’t voted since Sept. 19.
- Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) also raised concerns about being on recess during the shutdown. They both have expressed opposition before.
It’s not just the members who spoke up on the call who are questioning their party’s refusal to even come to the negotiating table with Democrats.
“I do think we should be negotiating the ACA tax credits and have that compromise to put in the Approps bills,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a retiring centrist, told Axios.
“We don’t need [it] for the CR, but if we all negotiate in good faith within the Approps process, we may break the ice jam.”
Who knows how many these people speak for? But there is rumbling in the senate too.
The House is on track to work one of it’s lightest non-election years in decades, and has effectively removed itself from the conversation around reopening the government.
They’re no doubt enjoying their paid vacation while most others in the government aren’t getting paychecks and we’re about to see kids going hungry. I assume this makes them happy.