A critical look at the blame game in the Schumer Shutdown and the political maneuvering involved.
The Trump administration finally unleashed one of its most aggressive maneuvers in the hopes of forcing Democrats to stop filibustering the continuing resolution that would fund the federal government and end the Schumer Shutdown: mass federal layoffs—officially called “reductions in force” (RIFs). After weeks of warning, the hammer has fallen. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought announced bluntly on Friday: “The RIFs have begun.”
Yet that hasn’t stopped Democrats from trying to pin the blame for the shutdown on Republicans. According to recent reports, they’re convinced the stalemate is politically working in their favor—and they’ve vowed not to give in “short of planes falling out of the sky.”
Meanwhile, military families are turning to food banks just to put meals on the table. But Democrats seem perfectly content to let them struggle, so long as they believe the optics help their cause. Some polls suggest the strategy might be paying off. Others say it’s backfiring.
But as a recent exchange on CNN’s NewsNight made clear, one simple question cuts through all the political theater and gets to the heart of the question of who is really to blame for the shutdown: Who’s actually voting against reopening the government?
Host Abby Phillip framed the debate by asking Rep.
