You really can’t orchestrate a shutdown and then act as though you didn’t want one in the first place, and yet that’s exactly what the GOP wants us to believe. Bringing up a CR only days prior to a shutdown, loading it with items they knew the DNC would balk at being in the bill, and then taking steps to ensure that only that bill would receive consideration. Atop all that, the CR only extends the deadline for 30 days, which combined with McConnell’s announcement that there will be no Senate budget resolution this year means we’re going to be limping along for the next year on CRs. After spending the better part of 8 years whining that no budget has been passed, the GOP has just abandoned the process altogether and wants the country to operate on a patchwork quilt made of monthly budget crises.

This shutdown is the result of months of poor leadership and cynical partisanship and if the DNC surrenders, it’s only going to continue to get worse as the GOP panic over their impending losses.